A routine backyard landscaping project in San Francisco’s Russian Hill neighborhood turned into an art-world mystery in May when a couple unearthed a carved limestone sculpture bearing the distinct hallmarks of the city’s 1920s and 1930s Art Deco movement, sparking an ongoing quest for its origins.
A Backyard Discovery in Russian Hill
What began as ordinary yard work quickly escalated into something far more compelling. While digging in his Russian Hill backyard in May, Greg Gatwood struck an immovable object with his shovel that did not feel like ordinary earth or garden debris. The excavation yielded a heavy, carved limestone sculpture, prompting an immediate investigation into how a piece of fine art ended up buried underground.
The find stands out as a major local curiosity. It’s probably the most exciting thing I’ve ever dug up in a yard, and I’ve dug up a lot of things over the years,
Gatwood said, according to Nypost.
Tracing the Art Deco Connection
The physical location of the property offers a compelling geographical clue. The couple lives directly across the street from the former San Francisco Art Institute, a historic training ground for generations of artists. That proximity immediately focused attention on the neighborhood’s artistic lineage.
Gatwood and his partner, artist Judy Gitelson, began examining the piece for stylistic fingerprints. They quickly zeroed in on Ralph Stackpole, a figure in the San Francisco art world during the 1920s and 1930s. Stackpole’s public works include statues gracing the old San Francisco Stock Exchange as well as murals inside Coit Tower.
The connection to the institution across the street runs deep through Stackpole’s career. Ralph Stackpole was teaching at the Art Institute for 20 years, and his disciples created this similar look of the flattened nose and broad face,
Gitelson noted, as detailed in coverage by NBC Bay Area.
Craftsmanship and Execution
While Gitelson suspects the sculpture reflects the distinct aesthetic milieu of Stackpole’s students and era rather than being an authentic piece carved by the master himself, she emphasizes that the object displays exceptional technical mastery.
“It’s carved limestone, and the quality of the execution and the skill level is quite remarkable. A local sculptor said, ‘This is not a fly-by-night person digging at limestone. This is someone very sophisticated.’ So it was made well.”
Judy Gitelson, Artist and Co-Discoverer
The high level of execution rules out a casual amateur project. Yet this realization deepens the central puzzle: whether the statue was originally displayed as a garden ornament, given away as a gift, or intentionally discarded and buried.
The Search for Verification
Months after the initial discovery, the couple faces a persistent authentication wall. They have yet to find an expert, specialized committee, or university willing to definitively verify the creator or trace the sculpture’s precise chain of custody.
The investigation remains active as the couple evaluates their options for official attribution. If the artwork is eventually linked securely to the historic school’s circle, it carries significant market potential, mirroring the valuation of other sculptures by Stackpole.
Lingering Questions and Next Steps
Beyond questions of monetary value or artist attribution, the primary mystery centers on the mechanics of its burial. The household continues to weigh whether the sculpture slipped from a wooden pedestal into overgrown brush over decades or was deliberately concealed beneath the soil.
As formal verification proves difficult, the couple is left considering alternative outcomes for the limestone piece if its provenance remains forever unknown. For now, the Russian Hill yard artifact remains an elegant, unlabelled chapter of San Francisco’s subterranean history.
