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RALPH FASANELLA (AMERICAN 1914-1997) Night Nude, 1947 oil on canvas 71.3 x 101.5 cm (28 x 40 in.) framed dimensions: 79.4 x 110.4 x 3 cm (31 1/4 x 43 1/2 x 1 1/4 in.) signed and dated lower right PROVENANCE Private Collection, New York (acquired from the family of the artist) EXHIBITED ACA Galleries, New York (label on verso) Ruffed Grouse Gallery, Narrowsburg, NY (label on verso) Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York LOT NOTES A vivid and psychologically charged composition, Night Nude captures Ralph Fasanella’s early exploration of urban intimacy and nocturnal anxiety. The painting also carries a remarkable personal history. After Fasanella’s death, his wife Eva - convinced the figure represented a former girlfriend - painted a nude self-portrait over the central form. That later intervention has since been carefully removed, the work restored to its original state. The work situates a reclining female form rendered in deep, glowing reds within a small Manhattan apartment - a dreamlike space framed by windows that open onto eerily quiet city streets. The flicker of lamplight, the voyeuristic architecture, and the palpable sense of isolation reflect Fasanella’s postwar preoccupation with the tension between the individual and the industrial city. Painted with the artist’s signature tactile brushwork and symbolic color palette, Night Nude exemplifies Fasanella’s blend of social realism and psychological surrealism - a deeply human vision of modern American life seen through the eyes of a self-taught storyteller. Ralph Fasanella was born in 1914 in the Bronx, New York, to Italian immigrant parents. His father, an ice delivery man, and his mother, a garment worker and union activist, instilled in him a profound respect for labor and community - values that would define his life’s work. After leaving school at a young age, Fasanella worked various jobs, including as a truck driver and union organizer, before discovering painting as a form of self-expression and social reflection in the mid-1940s. Entirely self-taught, Fasanella developed a distinctive style characterized by dense compositions, bold color, and a tapestry-like treatment of urban space. His paintings - depicting picket lines, tenement neighborhoods, factories, baseball games, and city celebrations - became visual chronicles of mid-20th-century working-class life. He aligned himself with America’s populist and social realist traditions, echoing the spirit of artists like Ben Shahn and Jacob Lawrence, but with a uniquely personal and communal perspective. By the 1970s, Fasanella had achieved national recognition as a voice of “people’s art.” His work was championed by labor organizations and exhibited in major institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the American Folk Art Museum, affirming his legacy as one of the most important self-taught painters of the 20th century. CONDITION Observed in frame, the work is in good condition. Overall craquelure and some paint flaking, several repaired scattered areas of paint loss, possible repaired by the artist himself, sone with the same paint as the rest of the work. UV light inspection showed small scattered retouches and some inpainting lower left corner. N.B. Condition reports are available upon request. All lots are sold in as-is condition at the time of sale. Please note that any condition statement regarding works of art is given as a courtesy to our clients in order to assist them in assessing the condition. The report is a genuine opinion held by Shapiro Auctions and should not be treated as a statement of fact. The absence of a condition report or a photograph does not preclude the absence of defects or restoration, nor does a reference to particular defects imply the absence of any others. Shapiro Auctions, LLC., including its consultants and agents, shall have no responsibility for any error or omission. Keywords: Outsider art, folk art painting, self-taught artist, New York City, Female Nude