Oral history interview of Ralph Chessé
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 11 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Chessé, Ralph
label: Interviewer
content: McChesney, Mary Fuller
label: Creator
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
label: Names
content: Federal Art Project (Calif.)
label: Names
content: Federal Theater Project (Calif.)
label: Names
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
label: Names
content: Labaudt, Lucien, 1880-1943
topic: label: Topic
content: Coit Memorial Tower (San Francisco, Calif.)
label: Topic
content: Federal aid to the arts
label: Topic
content: Mural painting and decoration -- California -- San Francisco
label: Topic
content: Printmakers -- California -- San Francisco -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Muralists -- California -- San Francisco -- Interviews
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Chessé, Ralph
label: Interviewer
content: McChesney, Mary Fuller
label: Creator
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Ralph Chessé (1900-1991) was a mural painter and puppeteer, in San Francisco, California.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 21 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1964 October 22
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.chess64
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Ralph Chessé conducted 1964 October 22, by Mary McChesney for the Archives of American Art.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Chessé speaks of his background and early interest in art; experimenting in puppetry; his first involvement with the WPA mural project; working on frescos for Coit Tower; technical aspects of the work; subject matter for frescos and how it was chosen; the importance of the Federal Art Project in that period in art history; political problems with the Federal Art Project; switching to the Federal Theater Project; some of the work he did for the Federal Theater Project; building and operating marionettes; his work in silkscreen; the WPA's value and contribution. He recalls Lucien Labaudt.