Rebecca Harp is an American artist who currently resides and works in Naples, Italy. Born in 1973 in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, she graduated cum laude from Lawrence University in 1995 with a double bachelor of arts in English Literature and Italian Renaissance Studies. In 1998, she moved to Florence, Italy to attend Charles H. Cecil Studios, and from 2003 to 2008 she taught drawing and painting in her private school to students from around the world.  From 2009-2011, she concentrated on both indoor and outdoor scenes in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Rehovot, Israel.  Upon settling in Naples in 2012, Rebecca devoted her time to starting a family, and in the past few years she has resumed her art and teaching practice. She has exhibited in London, New York, Boston, Rome, Florence, and Naples, and her works are part of private collections in Australia, Canada, England, France, Holland, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Malta, Spain, South Africa, and the United States.

“As a mother artist, I struggled at first to find a way to return to my work that would allow for the inevitable interruptions and yet retain focus, thus I began to explore other mediums that were more immediate, in particular pastel, charcoal, and watercolor.  This opened the door to a freer approach to painting through impulsive impressions of light, mass and color, balanced by more careful observations of weight and line.  It also led me to a primary focus on plein air landscape painting, particularly on the streets of Naples.

My work tends towards impressionism and intimism, due to an attraction to the transformations of light and color, the constant revelations within everyday life as a mother artist, and the significance of place.  The rich and chaotic beauty of Naples, in fact, is perhaps the strongest influence, as I try to navigate its layers while I discover my vantage point from within it.  In my work I try to convey the visual impact not of objects, people or places, but of the evolving, vibrating nature of those subjects.   My paintings then become a record of strong yet fragile sensations, suggestions and moments, suspended in time on the surface.”

2022