Jaques Schnier on Treasure Island

Treasure Island
Building #1

These two cast stone sculpture represents India and were done by Jacques Schnier for the Golden Gate International Exposition.  They have been known by several names, including “The Tree of Life,” but the preferred name is “Spirit of India.”  These are just two of  twenty that were part of the Unity sculptures placed in the Court of the Pacifica.  Jacques Schnier designed at least seven pieces of sculpture displayed at the fair.

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Jacques Schnier was born in Romania and came to the United States with his family in 1903.  He grew up in San Francisco.  He received an AB degree in engineering from Stanford n 1920 and an MA decree in Sociology from Berkeley in 1939.

An interest in city planning led to his abandoning a successful career in engineering and enrolling in the Department of Architecture at Berkeley.  This in turn gave him his first experience in art, since architecture students were required to take art courses. He eventually dropped out of architecture school to devote full time to his sculpture.

Schnier spent 30 years teaching at Berkeley, first as a lecturer in the Department of Architecture, he retired as Professor of Art, Emeritus, in 1966.

Following his retirement he expanded into many mediums, having previously favored such materials as stone, wood, bronze, marble and coper, he later focused on the medium of carved and polished clear acrylic resin (Plexiglas). His excitement with the material led him to exclaim in 1975 that “at last I’ve found my medium”  It’s as though I am sculpting pure light. At 76, I’m hitting my stride”.

Jacques Schnier died March 24, 1988 a the age of 89.