NEW YORK.- The New York Historical Society, in association with the New York State Historical Association, opened a major retrospective on the life and work of folk artist and labor activist Ralph Fasanella, on view through July 14, 2002.



Ralph Fasanella’s America contains fifty examples of the artists’ greatest work. A second-generation Italian-American immigrant, Fasanella painted what he knew: New York’s garment industry, its diverse ethnographic make-up, trade unionism and grassroots American politics. Fasanella captured the struggles and triumphs of working people in large, colorful, and detailed paintings. Appropriately, the paintings in this-exhibition illustrate both Fasanella’s culture and the manner in which he chose to immortalize it. The project will also include a variety of public programs designed to explore working class history, immigrant life, and Fasanella’s work in depth. A 176 page, fully-illustrated book will accompany the exhibition.



Culled from several different collections, the exhibition includes the most significant paintings from the 1940s through the 1990s. The catalog will include a biographical essay, color illustrations, and a checklist of all the paintings in the exhibition. By treating Fasanella’s work in a comprehensive manner, this exhibition demonstrates how the artists’s life and times influenced his art. The curator is Paul S. D’Ambrosio, Chief Curator of the Fenimore Art Museum, who is the leading expert on Fasanella.