Felicita Frai biography

Felicita Frai, the Italianized name of Felice Frajova, was a Czech painter naturalized Italian. She was born in Prague in 1909. In 1930, just of age, she interrupted her university studies in her hometown and moved to Italy, first staying in Trieste and then in Ferrara. In the Renaissance city, she met Achille Funi, introduced to her by Leonor Fini, who would become her teacher, collaborator, and lover. Under the guidance of the Ferrara painter, Felicita Frai studied the technique of fresco and together they created the decoration The Myth of Ferrara in 1936 in the Arengo Hall of the Municipal Palace of Ferrara. The collaboration with Achille Funi continued in 1935/36 for the decorations of the headquarters of the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro in Rome and the RAS headquarters in Trieste and in 1937 for the frescoes of the Church of San Francesco Nuovo in Tripoli, Libya.
In 1938, he participated in the Venice Biennale, and then returned in 1948.
In the 1940s, Felicita Frai moved to Milan, where she attended the studio of Giorgio De Chirico and participated in all editions of the Triennale from 1945 to 1954. She dedicated herself to figure painting and still life but also to engraving and illustration of books such as Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll and The Hedgehog's Tree by Antonio Gramsci.
In the Milanese city, a very fortunate period begins for the Czech painter who mingles with artists like De Pisis, Carrà, Morandi and receives important commissions. The preferred subjects of her works are female figures and flowers, which she creates with a naive and playful spirit and the refinement of an illustrator. In 2001, Felicita Frai receives the Ambrogino d'oro. She passed away in Milan in 2010 at the age of 100.