Ralph Fasanella’s painting "The Corner Butcher" is just $5,000 away from being available to everyone, as the painter wanted. “The private owner has agreed to sell it to our Public Domain Project and the Smithsonian American Art Museum has agreed to accept it for its permanent collection,” reports Ron Carver, who helped coordinate the Fasanella exhibitions earlier this year at the Smithsonian and the AFL-CIO...
photo by Ron Carver
photo by Ron Carver
Contributions from UFCW locals 951 and 1500, the Boilermakers, IBEW, AFT and Amalgamated Bank have already raised $17,000 of the $22,000 sale price, but “we only have until Christmas to raise the remaining $5,000,” to keep the painting in the public domain, says Carver. The project has secured public domain sites for other important Fasanella paintings, including "The Great Strike" which is now in the AFL-CIO’s lobby. Locals or individuals interested in contributing can reach Carver at [email protected].
photo: Metro Council President Jos Williams and DC LaborFest Coordinator Chris Garlock with Fasanella's "The Corner Butcher" during the DC LaborFest in May 2014 when the painting was on loan for local exhibition; photo by Ron Carver
photo: Metro Council President Jos Williams and DC LaborFest Coordinator Chris Garlock with Fasanella's "The Corner Butcher" during the DC LaborFest in May 2014 when the painting was on loan for local exhibition; photo by Ron Carver