Felicita Frai biography

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