Jacques Schnier

He was a professor of sculpture at UC Berkeley for over 30 years and he founded their sculpture department, working from 1936 to 1966.[1][5] His first role at UC Berkeley was as a modeling instructor in the department of architecture, succeeding Melvin Earl Cummings.[6] Schnier also taught at the School of Arts and Crafts in Oakland (now the California College of the Arts).[7]

He conducted research on psychoanalysis and wrote books on the subject.[4] Additionally he wrote about artists and art history.[4]

In 1927, the first news article about Schnier's artwork was published in The Argonaut by Junius Cravens.[4] Schnier relationship with Albert M. Bender, a San Francisco patron of the arts, helped sustain his creative work.[1] Schnier became known for modernist sculptures and mural painting.[3] His work in the 1920s to mid-1940s was figurative; after serving in the United States Army during World War II his work became more abstract.[8] In the 1960s, his work started to look more organic in shape.[8]

In 1936, Schnier was commissioned by the United States Mint to design the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge half-dollar, a commemorative coin that honored the opening of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge.[9][10] The front of the coin featured a portrait of Monarch II, the last of the San Francisco–bred grizzly bears; and the back of the coin featured the Bay Bridge and the Ferry Building, as seen from San Francisco.[10]

In 1939 to 1940, his work was part of the Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) on Treasure Island.[8] Schnier had solo art exhibitions at the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life (1971),[11] Crocker Art Museum (1963),[8] Stanford University Museum of Art (now Cantor Arts Center), The Art Institute of Seattle, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Gallaudet University, and the Bedford Gallery at the Lesher Center for the Arts. His works were also displayed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Dallas Museum of Art, Portland Art Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

• Schnier, Jacques (1965). Jacques Schnier: Sculptures (1961–1964) (exhibition). U.C. Berkeley Worth Ryder Gallery. Berkeley, CA: University of California Berkeley Press.
• Schnier, Jacques (1979). Selected Sculptures 1969–1979 (exhibition). Capricorn Asunder Gallery. San Francisco, CA: San Francisco Art Commission.
• Fort, Ilene Susan (1998). Jacques Schnier, Art Deco & Beyond: 60 Years of Sculpture (exhibition). Mills College of Art Museum. Mills College of Art Museum. ISBN 978-0963803030.