Stackpole and Pacifica Model
Born in Williams, Oregon, Ralph Stackpole (1885 – 1973) studied art in San Francisco, Paris and New York before coming back to San Francisco to teach at the California School of Fine Arts. Best known for integrating monumental paintings and sculpture with architectural elements, his works can be seen at the San Francisco Stock Exchange, the City Club of San Francisco, the Coit Tower, and the proscenium arch (the arch that separates the stage from the auditorium) in the Paramount Theater on Oakland, CA.
In the 1930′s he was part of a Depression Era program dubbed the Federal Arts Project for the Works Progress Administration. It was during this decade that Stackpole worked on many projects with San Francisco architect Timothy L. Pflueger, most notably the San Francisco Stock Exchange Building. It was then that Stackpole was able convince Pflueger to commission Diego Rivera for an interior mural.
Both of these artists, who became lifelong friends, would also make significant artistic contributions to the 1939-40 World’s Fair. Pflueger had Stackpole design and construct Pacifica, which was photographed for the cover of Life Magazine and became the iconic symbol of the Fair.
