Ruth Wakefield Cravath (1902–1986) was an American stonework artist and arts educator, specifically known for her public sculptures, busts and bas-reliefs in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Biography
Ruth Barrows Cravath[1] was born in Chicago, Illinois, on January 23, 1902[2] to Ruth Myra Rew and James Raney Cravath.[3][4]
In high school Cravath attended summer art classes at the Art Institute of Chicago.[5][6] Cravath attended college at Grinnell College in Iowa for one year before moving to California in 1921 to join her family.[5] She attended California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco and studied with Beniamino Bufano and Ralph Stackpole.[7] She learned "cut direct" sculpting techniques from Stackpole.[4] In 1926 she started teaching at the California School of Fine Arts, where her students included artists Jacques Schnier and Raymond Puccinelli.[8] 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.[7]
Cravath was commissioned to create three statues for the north court of the 1940 Golden Gate International Exposition, GGIE, designed by Timothy L. Pflueger.[4][9] 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".[9]
From 1958 to 1986, she lived at the historic Kerrigan House at 893 Wisconsin Street, between 22nd Street and Madera Street in San Francisco.[11][12] She had lived near artist Jean Halpert–Ryden in the 1960s.[12] Cravath died on November 30, 1986, in Poulsbo, Washington, at the age of 84.[6][13]
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 from 1973 until 2015.[14][15]
San Francisco Bay Area
1929, Fountain in Tennessee Marble, Emanu-El Sisterhood Residency (now called San Francisco Zen Center, the fountain has been removed), San Francisco[4][16][17]
^"Ruth Cravath (1902-1986)". California Art Research Archive. The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. 26 March 2014. Retrieved 2016-03-15.
