dieser beitrag wurde verfasst in: englisch (eng/en)
name: Chesse
vorname: Ralph Alexander
biografische angaben: Born in New Orleans on January 6, 1900, Ralph Alexander Chesse was self taught as an artist, except for a few monthes studying at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1918. Chesse came to San Francisco in 1923 and became active in the local art scene in the early 1930s. A painter and printmaker he was also a professional puppeteer, he worked mainly in children's theater, and sculptured wood, painted, and consulted in color and design.
An associate of artist Ralph Stackpole, he became part of the Coit Tower project in 1934, and was assigned the scene of the children's playground on the second floor. As in the case of John Langley Howard, Chesse's Tower fresco was his first and only painting in that medium. In it he tried to capture the spirit of early itinerant primitive American artists who went from farm to farm with pre-painted canvases whose faces were to be finished with portraits of the actual sitters.
Later he worked at the Federal Theater at the Golden Gate Exposition (Treasure Island), 1939-40. During World War II, he made many paintings of the shipyards.
Ralph Chessé was the patriarch of a large creative family. Before 1950 Chessé painted African American figures in scenes recalling his boyhood in New Orleans, in socially realist depictions of dock workers, and in religious themed motifs derived from the Bible. In 1953, the success of his television program "Brother Buzz", the longest sustaining children's program in SF's television history (1953-1969) brought him a financial independence he had not ever had in his lifetime. It afforded him an opportunity to travel to Europe in 1956 where he could revel in the culture of Europe and see for the first time, in person, the Paris of the impressionists which so greatly influenced him as a young man. It changed his style of painting and brought him back to the easel, from which he had retreated late in the 40's. From that point on he painted nonstop until he was 91 leaving behind a large legacy of art.
Ralph Chessé died in Ashland, Oregon on March 17, 1991.