Ralph Chessé

Ralph Chessé was born on January 6, 1900, in New Orleans and came to San Francisco in 1923. He was an accomplished artist who was involved in theater, sculpture and painting, including work on the Federal Theater Project on Treasure Island for the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939-40. In the first half of his career he often painted realistic figures of African American scenes from his boyhood (he was the sole African American artist on the Tower project) or the dockworkers he knew during WWII. In the early 1950s he launched "Brother Buzz," a local TV program in San Francisco that ran until 1969, the longest-running children's program in local television history. He even appeared in films, including a small part in "THX 1138," George Lucas' first feature film (made in 1971). Left-handed by nature, he was forced to be right-handed as a child; in 1981 he switched to painting left-handed and painted non- stop until he died in Ashland, Oregon at age 91. 

Works at Coit Tower:

Children at Play