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  • Greg Gatwood and Judy Gittelsohn found a 150-pound limestone bust of a woman buried in their Russian Hill home's backyard this May.
  • The couple suspects the work is connected to Ralph Stackpole, a prominent San Francisco sculptor who taught nearby, or one of his students.
  • Historians note that while the style matches the era and region, identifying the specific creator will be difficult without a signature or provenance records.

A landscape contractor working in his San Francisco backyard this May struck an unexpected object while digging, uncovering what appears to be a significant piece of local art history. Greg Gatwood, who was preparing the soil at the couple’s Russian Hill residence, initially believed he had hit an old fence post footing. Instead, after carefully excavating the area with a pickax, he revealed a substantial limestone bust depicting a woman’s head and neck rising from a rectangular base.

The sculpture is physically imposing, weighing approximately 150 pounds and measuring roughly 22 inches wide, 18 inches high, and 10 inches deep. Gatwood, a 65-year-old professional with extensive experience in landscape work, described the find as the most exciting discovery he has made in his career. He shared the object with his partner, Judy Gittelsohn, a professional painter, who joined him in investigating the artifact’s origins over the subsequent months.

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The couple has attempted to trace the sculpture’s history by contacting nearly 50 individuals, but no one has provided definitive information about its creator or how it ended up buried on the property. Gittelsohn noted that the craftsmanship indicates a sophisticated skill level, ruling out the possibility that it was created by an amateur hobbyist. The lack of identifying marks or accompanying documentation has made the search for provenance particularly challenging.

Despite the uncertainty, Gittelsohn believes the bust may be linked to Ralph Stackpole, a prominent American sculptor and muralist who lived and worked in San Francisco during the first half of the 20th century. Stackpole moved to the city in 1901 and became a central figure in the local art scene, contributing frescoes to Coit Tower as part of the New Deal’s Public Works of Art Project. He also created notable Art Deco figures for the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange building and works for major expositions, including the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition.

Stackpole spent nearly two decades teaching sculpture at the California School of Fine Arts, which later became the San Francisco Art Institute. The building that housed the institute’s sculpture department is located directly across the street from Gatwood and Gittelsohn’s home. Before their current two-story house was constructed in 1948, the property was an empty lot. Gittelsohn suspects that Stackpole or one of his students may have buried the sculpture there, noting that his disciples often produced work with a similar aesthetic, characterized by flattened noses and broad faces.

Historian Anne Schnoebelen, vice president of the board of directors at the Treasure Island Museum, supports the possibility that the piece is connected to Stackpole or his students Adeline Kent and Helen Phillips, both of whom lived in the area. She suggests the bust might have been intended for the Golden Gate International Exposition held on Treasure Island in 1939-40. Specifically, it could resemble one of the faces created for the Court of Pacifica, a section of the exposition that featured Stackpole’s large statue of the goddess Pacifica alongside numerous smaller sculptures arranged on fountains and plazas.

Experts caution that definitively identifying the artist will be difficult, if not impossible, without a signature or historical records. Ken Middlebrook, curator of collections at History San Jose, described the find as a treasure but emphasized the difficulty of attribution in the absence of clear documentation. Schnoebelen added that the reason for burying the sculpture may never be known, speculating that the creator might have been dissatisfied with the result or wished to keep it hidden from public view.

Gatwood has proposed an alternative theory regarding the bust’s presence in the yard. He suggests it may have been given to a previous resident and displayed outdoors before the area fell into disuse and became overgrown. In this scenario, the statue might have fallen from a wooden pedestal and become buried over time. Regardless of its specific origin, Gatwood plans to construct a pedestal to display the sculpture inside their home, preserving the artifact for future appreciation.

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  • Smithsonian Magazine↗This Couple Found a Mysterious 150-Pound Sculpture Buried in Their Backyard. Now, They're Trying to Figure Out Who Made It