In 1939-1940, twenty cast stone sculptures and a magnificent work of Gladding McBean terra cotta conveyed the theme of “Pacific Unity” on Treasure Island. The Golden Gate International Exposition, “A Pageant of the Pacific”, celebrated a future in which peoples around the Pacific Basin would live in peace.  Of course, that didn’t happen and the island became Naval Station Treasure Island to support America’s war in the Pacific.

Where are the sculptures now? For most of the past four decades, they have been in storage in old buildings on the island, an mostly unseen vestige of the fair’s vision.

In the late 1980s, the US Navy and the Treasure Island Museum undertook a preservation program and developed plans for a permanent sculpture garden. Sadly, the Navy abandoned that plan and shortly thereafter announced that the base would be closed, eventually to become property of the City of San Francisco. Six restored sculptures were put on public display for several years, although eventually they, too, were placed in storage. Current discussions, however, offer hope that a new plan for public display is in the works.

These works of art reflect the origins of the world’s fair and Treasure Island itself, as well as the legacy of a vital community of artists creating a vision of a world at peace.