Ralph Stackpole
| Ralph Ward Stackpole | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Born |
May 1, 1885 Williams, Oregon |
| Died | December 13, 1973 (aged 88) Puy-de-Dôme, France |
| Nationality | American |
| Education |
California School of Design École des Beaux-Arts |
| Known for | Sculpture |
Ralph Ward Stackpole (May 1, 1885 – December 13, 1973) was an American sculptor, painter, muralist, etcher and art educator, San Francisco's leading artist during the 1920s and 1930s. Stackpole was involved in the art and causes of social realism, especially during the Great Depression, when he was part of the Public Works of Art Project, Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration, and the Treasury Department's Section of Painting and Sculpture. Stackpole was responsible for recommending that architect Timothy L. Pflueger bring Mexican muralist Diego Rivera to San Francisco to work on the San Francisco Stock Exchange and its attached office tower in 1930–31. His son Peter Stackpole became a well-known photojournalist.
Stackpole worked as a laborer early in life to support himself and his mother following the death of his father in a lumber mill circular saw accident. At sixteen, he came to San Francisco to study at the California School of Design beginning in 1903; he was influenced strongly by Arthur Frank Mathews, muralist and painter at the school. He met painter Helen Arnstein (later Helen Salz) while both were teenagers, and she became his first girlfriend. Arnstein, the daughter of wealthy Jewish art lovers and one year Stackpole's senior, described him as "a remarkable draftsman" who painted and sketched constantly. She was less impressed with his sense of color than with his precision in line. Stackpole polished his craft by working with artists at the Montgomery Block, playfully called "Monkey Block", a bohemian hangout which included studios for painting and sculpture. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, he used a grant of US$200 ($5,300 in current value) to travel to France to attend the École des Beaux-Arts and Atelier Merces in 1906–1908, exhibiting at the Salon in 1910. It was in Paris that he became friends with painter Diego Rivera He painted under Robert Henri in New York in 1911.
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