Posted on Sep 26, 2019

Frazetta Enrolls in The Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts With great reassurance from Frank’s grandmother and his school teachers, Mary and Alfred realized their son may indeed have a God-given gift for art. They decided to enroll eight year old Frank in weekend classes at the one-room Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts located at 85-87 Court Street, Brooklyn NY. The academy was approximately 8 ½ miles from their family home in Sheepshead Bay and cost $8 per month.

Operated by fine artist, Michele Falanga, the art school, formerly known as Leonardo Da Vinci Art School, offered students a chance to study painting, sculpting and drawing from life and still life There were a total of 30 students ranging in age from eight to eighty. Frank remembered Falanga’s look of skepticism as he signed in for his first day, “You could easily imagine him thinking, ‘Oh no! Not another child prodigy!”

Despite Frank’s insecurities regarding his age, Falanga respected all artists who had a desire to learn. Falanga immediately instructed Frank to participate with his classmates as he handed Frank a blank paper, pencil and a postcard with a small duck painting on the front. He instructed Frank to copy the artwork to the best of his ability. When Falanga returned to observe Frank’s progress, he snatched up the drawing, threw his hands in the air and with great joy yelled, “Mama Mia!” At that moment, everyone in that class knew magic was about to unfold. To be continued….

Michele Falanga; a first generation Italian immigrant who studied fine art under leading Neapolitan painters Domenico Morelli and Fillippo Palizzi in Naples, Italy

Still Life Artwork by Frank Frazetta under the instruction of Michele Falanga

1. Tenth Letter of The Alphabet “Creator Michele Falanga” Alex Jay 2. Florence Nightingale Levy, Art Education in the City of New York: A Guidance Study (New York: School Art League of New York, 1938), 83.

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