The Actor

Ralph Alexander Chesse

African-American artist Ralph Chesse did this surreal gouache in 1941.Chesse is described as an actor, painter, muralist, printmaker, sculptor, and professional marionettest, who worked extensively with the theatre in San Francisco.

Chesse depicts a ubiquitous actor as a marionette, laying prone on a stage with strings attached to all its parts, waiting for the offstage manipulators to bring it to life for the performance.

In 1929, he started his own marionette production and he opened his own theatre, the Marionette Guild, on Merchant Street in San Francisco. Chessé returned to acting and designed sets for plays. In 1934, Chessé was selected for the mural project at San Francisco’s Coit Tower.

The Federal Theatre was organized in 1935 and Chessé was appointed director of the puppetry division. The following year he was named State Director for California, which necessitated a move to Los Angeles. Chessé returned to San Francisco in 1939 and produced shows for the Federal Theatre at the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island.