Q. David Bowers
SCHMITZ, Carl L.
Born in Metz, France on September 4, 1900, Carl L. Schmitz studied sculpture in France and Germany. He came to the United States in 1923, and worked for several sculptors. Beginning in 1932 he spent nine months with Milles (a Swedish master) at the Cranbrook Foundation, in the vicinity of Detroit, and considered that time to be the most important and interesting in his life. Schmitz also studied at the Beaux Arts Institute of Design in New York with Maxim Dasio. He achieved recognition for his work from the 1930s onward.
In later years the artist maintained a studio in New York City, taught there, and gave lectures, one of which was titled "The Sculptor in Ceramics." Beginning in 1959 he was an instructor in sculpture at the National Academy of Design and co-editor of the National Sculpture Review. His works are exhibited at or are a part of the Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts, IBM, U.S. Post Office (York, Pennsylvania), and, in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Post Office Department Building, the Federal Trade Commission Building, and the Department of Justice Building. Schmitz died on May 13, 1967.
Commemorative credit: 1936 Delaware Tercentenary half dollar.
SCHNIER, Jacques
Born on December 25, 1898, in Romania, Jacques Schnier came to America at the age of five with his parents. Following high school, he studied civil engineering at Stanford University, later going to Hawaii to work on bridges. After reading a biography of Paul Gauguin, Schnier decided to pursue a career in art, and in 1924 he enrolled in the University of California School of Fine Arts in Berkeley, where he remained until 1926, when he set up his own sculpture studio.
A sculptor and teacher, Schnier executed plaques and sculptures for numerous buildings and parks, primarily in California including eight large reliefs for the 1939 Golden Gate Exposition. His studio was in San Francisco. Schnier was living in the 1980s and enjoyed appreciation paid to him by numismatists who recognized his accomplishment with a commemorative half dollar of 1936.
Commemorative credit: 1936-S San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge half dollar.
SCHULER, Hans
Born in Alsace-Lorraine, Germany, on May 25, 1874, the son of Otto and Amalie (Arndt) Schuler, Hans Schuler came to America in 1879. Settling in Baltimore with his family, Hans was educated in private schools including Scheib's Academy. He enrolled in the Maryland Institute of Art and Design, where he completed night classes in sketching in 1891 and day classes in art in 1894, later graduating from the Rinehart School of Sculpture at the Maryland Institute in 1898, after which he went to the Academic Julian in Paris. Schwer established his own studio in Paris in 1900, and continued his studies including work as a pupil of Raoul Verlet under a $4,000 Rinehart scholarship funded by Henry Walters (Baltimore patron of the arts) and Augustus Saint-Gaudens.
His first memorable work was Ariadne, which won a medal at the Paris Salon of 1901. In 1904 Schwer returned to Baltimore, where he opened a studio that he would maintain for the rest of his life. However, his first love was teaching, and during the next several decades he became well known as an instructor and innovator in art education. During this period he produced many statues and monuments including a memorial to James Buchanan (erected in Washington, D.C.). In the 1930s Hans Schwer was the director of the Mary-land Institute in Baltimore.
On January 15, 1905, he married Paula Marguerite Schneider. The couple had two children, Charlotte Agnes and Hans Carl. Hans Schuler died in Baltimore on March 30, 1951.
Commemorative credit: 1934 Maryland Tercentenary half dollar.
SENN, Edmund J.
Edmund J. Senn, an El Paso, Texas sculptor, was on relief in 1936 when he was tapped by L.W. Hoffecker to prepare models for a coin.
Commemorative credit: 1935 Old Spanish Trail half dollar (prepared models from designs by L.W. Hoffecker).
SIMPSON, Marjorie Emory Marjorie Emory Simpson was a Baltimore sculptress and the wife of sculptor William Marks Simpson, with whom she shared a studio.
Commemorative credit: 1936 Norfolk Bicentennial half dollar (with William Marks Simpson).
SIMPSON, William Marks
Born on August 24, 1903, in Norfolk, Virginia, William Marks Simpson studied art and sculpture under J. Maxwell Miller, 'Hans Schwer, Herbert Adams, and others at the Maryland Institute, and at the American Academy in Rome. The husband of sculptress Marjorie Emory Simpson, he maintained a studio with her in Baltimore in the 1930s and taught at the Maryland Institute. In 1936 his address was 8 West Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore. Among his works are a portrait-relief of Gen. E.W,. Nichols (Virginia Military Institute) and a crucifixion group (altarpiece, Villa Aurelia, Rome).
Commemorative credits: 1936 Norfolk Bicentennial half dollar (with Marjorie Emory Simpson), 1937 Roanoke half dollar, 1937 Antietam half dollar.
SINNOCK, John R.
Born on July 8, 1888, in Raton, New Mexico, John Ray Sinnock pursued a career of art and sculpture. He studied at the Pennsylvania Museum of Art and was awarded the Mifflin Scholarship for advanced studies. Later he was an instructor at the museum for eight years. Sinnock joined the Mint staff as assistant medalist and was employed there until his resignation in 1919.
On August 1, 1925, President Calvin Coolidge appointed him to the post of chief engraver, a position which he maintained for the rest of his life. Although most of his professional work was done in connection with the Mint, Sinnock is credited with local murals and decorations. Among the many medals he created was the 1928 congressional medal for Thomas Alva Edison. In 1932 he produced models for the Washington quarter after a design by John Flanagan, but he is best known as the creator of the Purple Heart (1931), the 1946 Roosevelt dime, and 1948 Franklin half dollar.
He was a member of several societies including the Philadelphia Sketch Club, the National Sculpture Society, the American Federation of Art, and the American Artists Professional League. Sinnock died on May 14, 1947, at the Marine Hospital, Staten Island, New York, following an illness of several months' duration. His home address at the time was 2022 Spring Garden Street, Philadelphia.
Commemorative credits: 1918 Illinois Centennial half dollar (reverse), 1926 Sesquicentennial of American Independence half dollar (from design ideas by John Frederick Lewis), 1926 Sesquicentennial of American Independence $2.50 gold.