Ralph Stackpole
1885–1973 · Sculptor, painter and muralist from San Francisco
Ralph Stackpole (1885-1973) was an American sculptor, painter, muralist, etcher and art educator, one of the leading artists in San Francisco during the 1920s and 1930s. His work is linked to social realism, especially during the Great Depression, when he took part in federal art programs. He also played a key role in persuading architect Timothy Pflueger to bring Mexican muralist Diego Rivera to San Francisco for the Stock Exchange, in 1930-31.
Trained at the California School of Design from 1903 and later in Paris, where he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, Stackpole worked as a sculptor of architectural features for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. There he made figures for the Palace of Varied Industries, reworking a Toledo portal with figures of industry instead of saints. In 1913 he co-founded the California Society of Etchers.
In the 1920s he returned to France with Piazzoni and came back to the Bay Area with a new partner, which ended in divorce. He organized a major exhibition in San Francisco in 1923 and, in 1926, travelled to Mexico City to watch Rivera at work, starting his effort to bring the muralist to California. As a teacher, he headed the sculpture department of the California School of Fine Arts. His Montgomery Street studio was a meeting place for artists.
His legacy lies mainly in his teaching, his organizing and his role as a link between artists, along with public works that remain in San Francisco and Oakland.