Rita Boley Bolaffio ( Luzzatto;

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

, Italy, 7 June 1898 -

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, United States, 20 May 1995) was an Italian

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

who was instrumental in reintroducing

collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...

and decoupage into the United States.

Early years

Rita was born Margherita Luzzatto in

, Italy to Angelo Luzzatto and Olga Senigaglia. Her family moved to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, where she passed

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. She studied

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

under Josef Hoffmann at the

Kunstgewerbeschule A Kunstgewerbeschule (English: ''School of Arts and Crafts'' or S''chool of Applied Arts'') was a type of vocational arts school that existed in German-speaking countries from the mid-19th century. The term Werkkunstschule was also used for thes ...

. She also studied

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

under the famous violinist

František Ondříček František Ondříček (29 April 1857 – 12 April 1922) was a Czech violinist and composer. He gave the first performance of the Violin Concerto by Antonín Dvořák, and his achievements were recognised by the rare award of honorary memb ...

at the Neues Wiener Konservatorium. She did

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

designs for the renowned

Wiener Werkstaette Wiener (from German: "wikt:Viennese, Viennese") may refer to: Food * A Polish sausage (kielbasa) or "wenar" * A Vienna sausage of German origin, named after the capital of Austria * A hot dog, a cooked sausage, traditionally grilled or steamed ...

. In 1919 she married Oscar Bolaffio, an architect and engineer, and cousin of painter

Vittorio Bolaffio Vittorio Bolaffio (3 June 1883, Gorizia – 26 December 1931, Trieste) was an Italian painter. Biography Bolaffio was born in Gorizia on 3 June 1883, to Amodeo (or Amadio) and Pia Gentilomo. His father owned arable land, and traded in wines; his ...

. They moved to

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

in 1928, where Rita became one of the first horsewomen in Italy, riding sidesaddle, and won the "Premio Ciglione della Malpensa" (the Ciglione della Malpensa Prize) in 1936.

American career

In 1939, the

Fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

anti-

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

policies forced the family to flee to

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. She began a career as an

, specializing in imaginative collages that were displayed in the windows of most major department stores in America, including Lord & Taylor,

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street and ...

Bergdorf Goodman Bergdorf Goodman Inc. is a luxury department store based on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York. The company was founded in 1899 by Herman Bergdorf and was later owned and managed by Edwin Goodman, and later his son, Andrew Goodman. To ...

, Neiman Marcus, Carson Pirie Scott, and many more, as well as many private commissions. She regularly contributed covers for such magazines as ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the st ...

'', ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'', '' Town & Country'', '' Good Housekeeping'', and '' Woman's Day''. Boley Bolaffio was best known for her dramatic window displays in New York City. Additionally, she had many awards and one-woman exhibitions at museums and galleries (e.g. J.L. Hudson Gallery,

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, N.Y. and the Columbia Museum of Art in

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

). Her 1941 collection of decoupage works at the James Pendleton Gallery in

was favorably reviewed in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', and in 1950 that same newspaper described her as a "leading exponent" of decoupage. Her work is included in European reference works on

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

. She received the Premio di Sorrento 1965 for her poem "Nell'afa".

Personal life

Boley Bolaffio was married to Orville F. Boley. They had two sons: Bruno A. Boley and Lucius R. Boley.

References

External links

"Bolaffio, Rita Boley", MoMA archives of modern artists
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolaffio, Rita Boley Jewish artists Jewish women artists Collage artists 1898 births 1995 deaths 20th-century Italian women artists 20th-century Italian Jews Artists from Trieste Italian emigrants to the United States