Rolf Harris' love of art began at an early age at Primary School . When anyone asked him
"What are you going to be when you grow up?" his first response was
"An artist … AND a good one!"
Then whilst at secondary school he met his
inspirational art master, Frank Mills, who recognised and nurtured his
natural talent. After leaving school Rolf trained to become a teacher, continuing to draw and paint at every spare moment.
After leaving school Rolf Harris studied to be a teacher. He soon realised
his real love was in painting and at the age of 22 he left
Australia to come to England to pursue his dream of studying art and becoming an artist. The trip was
financed by four exhibitions of paintings he had held
previously in his home town of Perth.
One in England, he enrolled at the City & Guilds Art School in London, wanting to
follow in his grandfather's footsteps and become a portrait painter.
One in London his fate changed after a chance meeting at Earl's Court tube station with Australian
impressionist painter 'Bill' Hayward Veal. At the time of their meeting Bill was running an art course, and although Rolf couldn't
afford it he went along anyway.
"In this class I tried to impress him
with thickly daubed oils on canvas paper, but Bill gave me a real
canvas and told me to set up some bottles and other items that I would
like to paint. He gave me a brush, some burnt sienna, some rag and a
bottle of turpentine and told me to see how little paint I could use.
Instead of painting isolated individual parts he told me to tackle the
whole canvas all the time. I still do this now, starting off very rough
and rugged and then refining later."
After the course, Rolf became
Veal's protégé.
He started to paint more and more and in the mid 50's Rolf's paintings were successfully exhibited in the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy for two years running.
In 1992 Rolf Harris was voted the world's
most famous artist by a British poll. In 2001 Rolf Harris came back into the public eye in regards to his artwork and painting whilst hosting a
television series on the BBC called "Rolf on Art" which proved
to be a big hit with 24.5 million viewers over a period of 4 weeks, the highest
ever ratings for a programme on the visual arts in the history of
television. In November 2002 following the success of Rolf on Art, he received one of the greatest honours possible for
any artist when he was asked to exhibit for a month at the National Gallery, before
transferring to the Halcyon Gallery in Mayfair.
This led to an increase in popurlaity from not only the general public, but led to the Queen commissioning him to do a
portrait in 2005.
His work is
forever growing and proving to be more and more popular with an ever
increasing fan base. This has made his limited edition prints a very
good investment
giving people the chance to appreciate his art whilst it rises in
value.
Rolf Harris recently received an honorary membership from
the Royal Society of British Artists.
List of Limited Edition pieces available by Rolf Harris
Into the Sun by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition of 195
Uluru Sunset by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition of 195 SOLD OUT
Hamersley Red Rocks by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition of 195 SOLD OUT
Winter Willow by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition of 195
Midday Shade by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition of 295
Evening Sun by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition of 295
Fading Light Parliament by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition of 195 SOLD OUT
The Waitress by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition of 195 SOLD OUT
In the Shade by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition of 395
Heading Home by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition of 395 Summer Afternoon by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition of 195 SOLD OUT
First Snow, Hyde Park by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition of 195 SOLD OUT
Sun on the water Tresco by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition of 195 SOLD OUT
Machu Picchu by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition of 95 SOLD OUT
Wimbledon Legends by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition of 95 SOLD OUT
Windswept Lion by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition of 95 SOLD OUT
Darwin Dawn by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition of 95 SOLD OUT
The Red Umbrella by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition of 195 SOLD OUT
Sunrise, Taj Mahal by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition of 175 SOLD OUT
Autumn Sunlight, Westminster by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition of 175 SOLD OUT
Blue Elvis by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition of 95 SOLD OUT
Sunset Lion by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition SOLD OUT
Lazing in the Sun by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition SOLD OUT
In the Shade by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition SOLD OUT
Harbour Side by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition SOLD OUT
Fishing at Sunset by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition SOLD OUT
Downriver by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition SOLD OUT
Heading Home by Rolf Harris - Paper and Canvas edition - signed limited edition SOLD OUT
