Charles Ginnever is an American sculptor known primarily for large-scale abstract steel work. He was born in San Mateo, California, in 1931. In 1953 he went to Paris, where he attended classes taught by the sculptor Ossip Zadkine at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. His European tour lasted two years, during which time he travelled throughout France and Italy and absorbed as much as he could from the many museums he visited.

Upon returning to his native California, he enrolled at the California School of Fine Arts, (now the San Francisco Art Institute) where he studied photography and sculpture from 1955 to 1957, and where he befriended the sculptor Peter Forakis.
1957 was a pivotal year for Ginnever, when he drove from San Fr...