''Pacifica'' was a statue created by

Ralph Stackpole Ralph Ward Stackpole (May 1, 1885 – December 10, 1973) was an American sculptor, painter, muralist, etcher and art educator, San Francisco's leading artist during the 1920s and 1930s. Stackpole was involved in the art and causes of social realis ...

for the 1939–1940

Golden Gate International Exposition The Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) (1939 and 1940), held at San Francisco's Treasure Island, was a World's Fair celebrating, among other things, the city's two newly built bridges. The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opened in 1936 ...

held on

Treasure Island ''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure no ...

in the San Francisco Bay. Stackpole's largest sculpture, it towered over the entrance to the Cavalcade of the Golden West in the Court of Pacifica. The Court of Pacifica was dedicated to the heroic explorers of Pacific Ocean territories. ''Pacifica'' was the theme statue for the exposition, representing world peace, neighborliness, and the power of a unified Pacific coast.

Development

It took Stackpole two years to complete the statue as it started out as a three inch figure. It went through 50 renditions before settling upon the final model which was tall. The model was then divided into cross sections. Each cross section was enlarged eight-fold though a process using a

pantograph A pantograph (, from their original use for copying writing) is a mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a second pen. If a line dr ...

. Scaffolding was set up and prepared for the precise assembly of the enlarged sections. Iron was used for supports, bent and shaped around the proper contours of the statue. Next, mesh wire was layered over the entire iron frame, and then covered in a final blanket of plaster. Such a construction was always meant for temporary placement. By November 1938, when ''Life'' photographer

Alfred Eisenstaedt Alfred Eisenstaedt (December 6, 1898 – August 23, 1995) was a German-born American photographer and photojournalist. He began his career in Germany prior to World War II but achieved prominence as a staff photographer for ''Life'' magazine af ...

was capturing images to promote the event, ''Pacifica'' was ready for his camera. The magazine carried the image of this, Stackpole's most monumental work, "a peaceful, contemplative, almost prayer-like female figure".

''Pacifica'' at the Golden Gate International Exposition

''Pacifica'' was physically the biggest and most conspicuous statue at the exposition. She was placed in front of a metal prayer curtain that had a backdrop of stars made of metal and small tubes that would make sound when met with a breeze. In front of the statue, in the center of the court, was a circular

fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" (genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. Fountains were ori ...

surrounded by the works of eight different sculptors of figures representing people living on shores of the Pacific. StackpoleAAK-0327

Presentation

Lighting

The statue was lit by two 1500 watt underwater floodlights.Color: New Synthesis in the West Reprinted by General Electric From Architectural Record The giant spotlights gave ''Pacifica'' a look of "regal splendor." The backdrop, or Great Window, was lit by 75 amber, 150 red, and 300 blue floodlights, each 200 watts, all controlled by a

thyratron A thyratron is a type of gas-filled tube used as a high-power electrical switch and controlled rectifier. Thyratrons can handle much greater currents than similar hard-vacuum tubes. Electron multiplication occurs when the gas becomes ionized, p ...

. This gave the entire court a very colorful and mystical appearance after dark. "The contrast brought the great figure to life, as if it were about to walk down the esplanade into the Court of the Seven Seas."

Flowers

Orange calendulas were in full bloom around the statue, as well as red, yellow, and purple

ranunculus ''Ranunculus'' is a large genus of about almost 1700 to more than 1800 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus are known as buttercups, spearworts and water crowfoots. The genus is distributed in Europe ...

and

anemone ''Anemone'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. Plants of the genus are commonly called windflowers. They are native to the temperate and subtropical regions of all continents except Australia, New Zealand an ...

s which were said at the time to be very fragrant and added a romantic edge to the court.

Destruction

From 1939 to 1940, some 16 million visitors came to the exposition. The

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

purchased the island as a naval base in 1941, and ''Pacifica'' was demolished along with most other exposition structures. After the exposition, Stackpole proposed that the sculpture be recast in a more permanent form—steel, stone or concrete—and positioned prominently on an island in the San Francisco Bay, perhaps

Alcatraz Alcatraz Island () is a small island in San Francisco Bay, offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military pris ...

or Angel Island, in a manner similar to the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. The plan was not seriously considered by civic leaders whose attention was on the events that soon brought the U.S. into direct involvement with

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Pacifica was demolished by the US Navy on January 22, 1941.

''Pacifica'' II

Currently, a non-profit organization called The Pacifica II Statue Project is working to recreate and resurrect ''Pacifica'' on Treasure Island. There is currently an replica of ''Pacifica'' at

City College of San Francisco City College of San Francisco (CCSF or City College) is a public community college in San Francisco, California. Founded as a junior college in 1935, the college plays an important local role, annually enrolling as many as one in nine San Franci ...

Ocean Campus, 50 Phelan Avenue in the garden next to the Diego Rivera Theater.

References

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External links

Pacifica is Back
Colossal statues in the United States Golden Gate International Exposition Public art in the United States World's fair sculptures Demolished buildings and structures in San Francisco Buildings and structures demolished in 1941