biography of Jacques SCHNIER (1898-1988)

Birth place: Romania

Death place: Walnut Creek, CA

Addresses: Lafayette, CA

Profession: Sculptor, teacher, writer

Studied: Stanford Univ. (A.B., civil engineering); Univ. Calif. (M.A.); Calif. Sch. FA, San Francisco with Ralph Stackpole; Ray Boynton; Ruth Cravath

Exhibited: Beaux Arts Gal., San Francisco (solo); Northwestern Art Exh., Seattle, 1928 (prize);San Francisco AA, 1928 (first sculpture award); Braxton Gal., Hollywood, 1929; Courvoisier Gal., San Francisco, 1932; San Francisco, 1930 (prize); AIC, 1930, 1937; LACMA, 1934 (prize); Oakland Art Gal., 1936 (prize), 1948 (prize); GGE, 1939; Oakland Art Mus., 1948 (first sculpture prize & gold medal); Third Sculpture Int., Philadelphia Mus., 1949; solos: Sculpture, Stanford Univ. Mus., 1962; Sculpture, Santa Barbara Mus. Art, 1963; Bronze Sculpture, Ryder Gal., Univ. Calif., Berkeley, 1965; Transparency and Reflection, Judah Magnes Mus., Berkeley, 1971. Other awards: Inst. Creative Arts fellowship, Univ. Calif., 1963.

Member: Calif. Soc. Mural Painters; San Francisco AA; NSS

Work: Oakland (CA) Art Mus.; playground fountain, San Francisco; memorial, Calif. Sch. FA; CPLH; Stanford Univ. Mus.; Santa Barbara Mus. Art; Honolulu Acad. Arts; Mills College Art Gal., Commonwealth Club, CA; Tel-Aviv Mus., Palestine; Calif. Hist. Soc.; Commissions: U.S. Half Dollar, commemorating San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, 1936; architectural relief, Berkeley (CA) H.S., 1939; wood relief sculpture, State of Hawaii, Congress Club, Washington, DC, 1948; bronze wall sculpture, College Architecture Alumni, Univ. Calif., Berkeley, 1960; carved acrylic sculpture, Calif. College Arts & Crafts; Founders Centennial Award for Neil Armstrong, 1972.

Comments: In the late 1920s he carved directly in marble and wood, completing a number of commissions for architectural sculpture. Schnier traveled around the world in 1932-33. He often used Asian women as models for his figures. After WWII he abandoned figures for abstract geometries and after the late 1960s incorporated industrial materials into his work. Positions: chmn. advisory board, Nat. Sculpture Center, Univ. Kansas, 1971-; mem. advisory board, Int. Sculpture Symposium, Eugene, OR, 1971-74; mem. advisory board, Section L, AAAS, 1972. Publications: auth., The Tibetan Lamaist Ritual: Chöd," Int. Journal Psychoanalysis, Vol. 1937, No. 6; auth., "Reinforced Polyester Plastic and Acrylic Color for Sculpture," Proceedings Fifth Nat. Sculpture Conf., 1968; "Reflection and Transparency in Carved Acrylic Sculpture," Proceedings Sixth Nat. Sculpture Conf., 1970; auth., "The Cubic Element in my Sculpture," 1969; "Transparency and Reflection as Entities in Sculpture of Carved Acrylic Resin," 1972, Leonardo. Teaching: Calif. College Arts & Crafts, 1935-36; Univ. Calif., Berkeley, 1936-66.

Sources: WW73; Fort, The Figure in American Sculpture, 222 (w/repro.)"