Alice Louise Rideout (c. October 1871-April 18, 1953) was an American sculptor born in

Marysville, California Marysville is a city and the county seat of Yuba County, California, located in the Gold Country region of Northern California. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 12,072, reflecting a decrease of 196 from the 12,268 counted ...

who is primarily known for her work on The Woman's Building at the 1893

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordi ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Biography

Alice Rideout was born in Marysville, California. Her father was Captain J. Ransom Rideout. He had a fleet of steamers on

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

. As a girl Rideout moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, where she attended high school. While growing up her passion for design was celebrated by classmates, she would often design railway trains out of cotton spools. She went on to attend the San Francisco School of Design, where she studied with Rupert Schmid who had discovered her through a recommendation by a high school art teacher. During Rideout and Schmid's first meeting, she arrived at his studio before him and her pet dog knocked over and smashed one of his statues. She gathered the broken fragments and desperately tried piecing them back together before Schmid arrived. So absorbed in the work she did not realize that Schmid had entered watching her. He was so struck by her ability that no further interview was necessary and she became his pupil. RIDEOUT

At the age of 19 Rideout won a competition to produce the

architectural sculpture Architectural sculpture is the use of sculptural techniques by an architect and/or sculptor in the design of a building, bridge, mausoleum or other such project. The sculpture is usually integrated with the structure, but freestanding works that ...

for the

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

of the Woman's Building at the 1893 World Fair. After the Fair Rideout returned to San Francisco and married Fred Canady. She abandoned her art career, and moved to New York, where she remarried, and "disappeared from history."

For the decorative, as for the structural scheme, designs were invited among women qualified for such work throughout the United States, and after eager and close competition the prize was awarded to Alice Rideout, of San Francisco. The pediment and symbolic groups of the roof-garden were her work. On the roof were winged groups typical of feminine characteristics and virtues, in choicest symbolism. One of the central figures represented the spirituality of woman, and at her feet a
pelican Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before s ...
, emblem of love and sacrifice. In the same group charity was side by side with virtue, and sacrifice was further symbolized by a nun, placing her jewels on the altar. Another group represented the genius of civilization, a student at her right and a woman at her left struggling through darkness for the light. All these and other groups represent the genius and labor of Miss Alice Rideout. The center of the pediment was occupied by
Minerva Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the Roma ...
with Wisdom's owl at her feet, and on either side, women's work in the progress of civilization was typified by literature, art, and home life.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rideout, Alice American women sculptors Modern sculptors People from Marysville, California Sculptors from California 20th-century American women artists Year of birth uncertain 1953 deaths