ARTIST: Michele Falanga (Italian, New York, 1870 - 1942)
NAME: Shoe Shine Boy with Dog
MEDIUM: oil on canvas
CONDITION: Very good. No visible inpaint under UV light. Some damages to frame.
SIGHT SIZE: 18 x 12 inches / 45 x 30 cm
FRAME SIZE: 27 x 21 inches / 68 x 53 cm
SIGNATURE: lower right
CATEGORY: antique vintage painting
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SKU#: 118043
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BIOGRAPHY:
Michele Falanga was born in Torre del Greco, Naples, Italy on July 5, 1867. He studied first with artist Michele Tedesco, then at the Istituto di Belle Arti in Naples with Stanislao Lista, Domenico Morelli and Filippo Palizzi. Falanga continued his studies in Rome. He married Virginia Ciavolino in 1898.In 1901 Falanga was a passenger aboard the S.S. Trojan Prince, bound for the United States; he arrived in New York on August 25. His wife followed in 1902. Between the years 1904 and 1907 the couple had three children, two daughters and a son.In 1915 Falanga was a self-employed artist who had a room at 335 Broadway in Lower Manhattan. He lived at 143 Summit Street in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. In 1917 his office was located at 45 John Street. From the mid- to late teens Falanga's paintings could be purchased at the Abraham and Strauss department store in Brooklyn.According to the 1920 Census the Falanga family lived at 150 Summit Street in Brooklyn. In 1923 the Leonardo da Vinci Art School opened at 288 East 10th Street in Manhattan. General Director Onorio Ruotolo, a sculptor, said “the purpose of the school was to teach young craftsmen to become artists.Falanga was in charge of drawing and painting; the courses included sculpture, interior decoration, architecture, geometry, woodcutting, cabinet-making, wrought-iron, fashion designing, fashion-plate drawing, electricity, embroidery design, history of art, and anatomy. The New York Times described Falanga's contribution to the school's opening:The chief object of interest was a floral carpet made in the manner of a Renaissance mosaic from the crushed petals of flowers. The whole symbolized The Nativity. The carpet was created on the floor and a puff of wind will blow it to pieces. It covers 500 square feet and took eight months to complete. Michele Falanga, called the flower wizard, was the designer.That same year he opened a branch of the school in Brooklyn. The art school had its own magazine, Leonardo, Annual Magazine of the Leonardo da Vinci Art School. The 1924-1925 issue included reproductions of Falanga's paintings and sketches.The book, Art Education in the City of New York: A Guidance Study, had this description of the academy: Michele Falanga, instructor. Founded 1935. Occupies a floor in a small business building. Individual instruction; open all year daily 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; in summer there are outdoor classes on Sunday. Subjects include Painting and Drawing from life and still life; Charcoal drawing from cast; Fashion Illustration; Pictorial Composition. Tuition, monthly day $8; evening $6.Falanga was profiled in the 1936 edition of Italian-American Whoв's Who, Volume 2. That same year Frank Frazetta began formal art instruction at the academy; his recollection of that occasion:Upon the insistence of one of my teachers, my parents enrolled me in the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts when I was eight years old. The Academy was little more than a one floor three room affair with a total of thirty students ranging in age from (you guessed it) eight to eighty. I still remember the Professor's look of skepticism as I signed in. You could easily imagine him thinking, ˜Oh no! Not another child prodigy!!Nevertheless, he sat me down with a pencil and paper and asked me to copy a very small picture postcard which contained a realistically rendered reproduction of a group of ducks. When he returned later on to see how far I had progressed, he took one look at my drawing, snatched it up exclaiming, ˜Mama Mia, and ran off waving the drawing in the air and calling everyone to come and look at it.According to the 1930 Census the Alfred Farzzetta family of three lived at 1203 Avenue Y in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. The distance from their home to the academy was about eight-and-a-half miles. Falanga was impressed by Frazetta's talent and, years later, made preparations for him to study in Italy. Unfortunately Falanga's death ended that plan; he died February 1, 1942, at his home, 383 Clinton Street, Brooklyn. Falanga was survived by his wife and three children.