Ruth Wakefield Cravath (1902–1986) was an American

stonework Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. It is one of the oldest activities and professions in human history. Many of the long-lasting, ancient shelters, temples, ...

artist and arts educator, specifically known for her public sculptures, busts and bas-reliefs in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

Biography

Ruth Barrows Cravath was born in Chicago, Illinois on January 23, 1902 to Ruth Myra Rew and James Raney Cravath. In high school Cravath attended summer art classes at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mil ...

. Cravath attended college at

Grinnell College Grinnell College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of New England Congregationalism in the United States, Congrega ...

in Iowa for one year before moving to California in 1921 to join her family. She attended

California School of Fine Arts San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximatel ...

in San Francisco and studied with

Beniamino Bufano Beniamino "Bene" Bufano (October 15, 1890August 18, 1970) was an Italian American sculptor, best known for his large-scale monuments representing peace and his modernist work often featured smoothly rounded animals and relatively simple shapes ...

and

Ralph Stackpole Ralph Ward Stackpole (May 1, 1885 – December 10, 1973) was an American sculpture, 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 so ...

. She learned "cut direct" sculpting techniques from Stackpole. In 1926 she started teaching at the California School of Fine Arts, where some of her students being artists,

Jacques Schnier Jacques Schnier (1898–1988) was a Romanian-born American artist, sculptor, author, educator, and engineer. He was a sculpture professor at the University of California, Berkeley from 1936 to 1966. Early life and education Jacques Preston Sch ...

and Raymond Puccinelli. In the same year, she co-founded the San Francisco Summer Art School for Children with Marian Trace. In 1928 she married Sam Bell Wakefield III. Cravath was commissioned to create three statues for the north court of the 1940

Golden Gate International Exposition The Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) (1939 and 1940), held at San Francisco's Treasure Island, was a World's Fair celebrating, among other things, the city's two newly built bridges. The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opened in 193 ...

, GGIE, designed by

Timothy L. Pflueger Timothy Ludwig Pflueger (September 26, 1892 – November 20, 1946) was an architect, interior designer and architectural lighting designer in the San Francisco Bay Area in the first half of the 20th century. Together with James R. Miller, Pflue ...

. Her three statues surrounded the "Fountain of Western Waters" in the "Court of Pacifica" area of the Exposition and included a large sculpture named "Alaskan boy spearing a fish". Her brother Austin Cravath married the artist

Dorothy Wagner Puccinelli Dorothy Wagner Puccinelli, also known as Dorothy Puccinelli Cravath (December 19, 1901 – May 24, 1974), was a New Deal-era artist and muralist. She was based in San Francisco, California. Biography Born as Dorothy Wagner on December 19, 190 ...

in 1941. In 1945, Cravath began teaching art at

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was r ...

in Oakland. From 1958 to 1986, she lived at the historic Kerrigan House at 893 Wisconsin Street, between 22nd Street and Madera Street in San Francisco. Cravath died on November 30, 1986 in

Poulsbo, Washington Poulsbo ( ) is a city on Liberty Bay in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. It is the smallest of the four cities in Kitsap County. The population was 9,200 at the 2010 census and an estimated 10,927 in 2018. The area was historically ...

at the age of 84.

Public works

Cravath's best known work in the San Francisco Bay Area was her 27-foot-tall, cast-concrete and steel-reinforced statue of St. Francis that stood at the entrance of

Candlestick Park Candlestick Park was an outdoor stadium on the West Coast of the United States, located in San Francisco's Bayview Heights area. The stadium was originally the home of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants, who played there from 1960 ...

from 1973 until 2015.

San Francisco Bay Area

* 1929, Fountain in Tennessee Marble, Emanu-El Sisterhood Residency (now called

San Francisco Zen Center San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC), is a network of affiliated Sōtō Zen practice and retreat centers in the San Francisco Bay area, comprising City Center or Beginner's Mind Temple, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. ...

, the fountain has been removed), San Francisco * 1930, ''Bar Maid'', The

Pacific Stock Exchange The Pacific Exchange was a regional stock exchange in California, from 1956 to 2006. Its main exchange floor and building were in San Francisco, California, with a branch building in Los Angeles, California. In 1882, the San Francisco Stock and ...

Lunch Club (now called The City Club), San Francisco * 1930, ''Laborers'', The Pacific Stock Exchange Lunch Club (now called The City Club), San Francisco * ''Athletic Award Tablet'', Tamalpais School (now called

Marin Academy Marin Academy (familiarly known as MA) is a private college preparatory high school in San Rafael, California. Located on the campus that for decades housed the San Rafael Military Academy prior to its closure, Marin Academy was founded in 1 ...

), San Rafael * ''William Award'' (bronze tablet), Tamalpais School (now called Marin Academy), San Rafael * ''St. Francis'', Candlestick Park, San Francisco (in the process of being relocated by 2018)

References

External links

Ruth Cravath collection
at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)
Oral history interview with Ruth Cravath
from 1965,

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...

, Smithsonian Institution {{DEFAULTSORT:Cravath, Ruth 1902 births 1986 deaths San Francisco Art Institute alumni San Francisco Art Institute faculty School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni Mills College faculty Artists from San Francisco Grinnell College alumni