Kenneth Snelson

Kenneth Duane Snelson (June 29, 1927 – December 22, 2016) was an American contemporary sculptor and photographer. His sculptural works, exemplified by Needle Tower, are composed of flexible and rigid components arranged according to the idea of tensegrity, although Snelson preferred the descriptive term floating compression.

Snelson said his former professor Buckminster Fuller took credit for Snelson's discovery of the concept that Fuller named tensegrity. Fuller gave the idea its name, combining 'tension' and 'structural integrity.' Kārlis Johansons had exhibited tensegrity sculptures several years before Snelson was even born. The height and strength of Snelson's sculptures, which are often delicate in appearance, depend on the tension between rigid pipes and flexible cables.

Biography

Snelson was born in Pendleton, Oregon, in 1927. He studied at the University of Oregon in Eugene, at the Black Mountain College, and with Fernand Léger in Paris. His sculpture and photography have been exhibited at over 25 one-man shows in galleries around the world including the structurally seminal Park Place Gallery in New York in the 1960s. Snelson also did research on the shape of the atom. Snelson continued to work in his SoHo studio, occasionally collaborating with animator Jonathan Monaghan. He lived in New York City with his wife, Katherine.

He held five United States patents: #3,169,611: Discontinuous Compression Structures, February 1965; #3,276,148: Model for Atomic Forms, October 1966; #4,099,339: Model for Atomic Forms, July 1978; and #6,017,220: Magnetic Geometric Building System; and most recently, #6,739,937: Space Frame Structure Made by 3-D Weaving of Rod Members, May 25, 2004.

Snelson was a founding member of ConStruct, the artist-owned gallery that promoted and organized large-scale sculpture exhibitions throughout the United States. Other founding members include Mark di Suvero, John Raymond Henry, Lyman Kipp and Charles Ginnever. Snelson was also a pioneer of digital art, using a Silicon Graphics machine to produce artistic images in the 1980s.

After suffering from prostate cancer, Snelson died on December 22, 2016, at the age of 89.

Work During his early years as an art student, Snelson drew an interest for the tensegrity approach. Buckminster Fuller formalized a lot of the concept, but Snelson clearly contributed to its development. Through his proximity with Bauhaus artists (Léger) and Abstract expressionists painter (de Kooning), Snelson was mainly drawn to the exploration of tensegrity and space. He claimed he developed his own empirical mathematics system to create his structures, but denies being a mathematician. He says he never found a way to formalize through mathematics the logic of his structures, and never met someone who could.

Honours and awards

(1999) Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award, International Sculpture Center.

Sculptures in public collections and public spaces

United States

Alabama

Mora Terry II, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham

California

City Boots, 1968, J. Patrick Lannon Foundation, Los Angeles Mozart I, 1982, Stanford University, Palo Alto

District of Columbia

Needle Tower, 1968, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington Untitled Maquette, 1975, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington

Florida

Newport, 1968, M. Margulies, Coconut Grove Double City Boots, 1967, MDC Wolfson Campus, Miami X-Planar Tower, John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota

Iowa

Four Module Piece, 1968, Riverfront Crossings Park, Iowa City

Louisiana

Virlane Tower, 1981, Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden at NOMA, New Orleans

Maryland

B-Tree, 1981, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda Easy Landing, 1977, City of Baltimore, Baltimore Six Number Two, 1967, Annmarie Sculpture Garden (Smithsonian partner/annex site), Solomons, Maryland

Massachusetts

Mozart III, 2008, Science Center, Wellesley College, Wellesley,

Michigan

Indexer II, 2001, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor B-Tree II, 2005, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids

Missouri

Triple Crown, 1991, Hallmark, Inc., Kansas City, Missouri

Nebraska

Able Charlie, 1983, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha

New Jersey

Northwood II, 1970, Compton Quad, Graduate College, Princeton, Mercer

New York

Coronation Day, 1980, City of Buffalo, Buffalo E.C. Column, 1969–81, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo Four Chances, 1982, Albright Knox Museum, Buffalo Fair Leda, 1969, Nelson Rockefeller Estate Free Ride Home, 1974, Storm King Art Center, Mountainville Mozart II, 1982, Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Garden at Pepsico, Purchase Sun River, 1967, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York One World Trade Center antenna/spire, 2006, One World Trade Center, New York

North Carolina

Northwood II(maquette), 1970, Asheville Art Museum, Asheville

Pennsylvania

Forest Devil, 1975–77, Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh

Ohio

Forest Devil, 1975, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati V-X, 1968, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus Rainbow Arch, Seltzer Sculpture Park, 11205 Harborview Dr, Cleveland, OH 44102

Oklahoma

Sleeping Dragon, 2002–03, Kirkpatrick Oil Company Building, Oklahoma City

Tennessee

Dragon II, 2005, Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville V-X-II, 1973-4, Hunter Museum, Chattanooga

Texas

Northwood, 1969, Northwood Institute, Cedar Hills

Vermont

"Hard Wired", Bennington (College)

Wisconsin

Northwoods III, 1970, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee

International

Germany

Soft Landing, 1975–77, Berlin Nationalgalerie, Berlin Avenue K, 1968, City of Hannover

The Netherlands

Easy-K, 1970, Sonsbeek ‘70, Arnhem Needle Tower II, 1969, Kröller Müller Museum, Otterlo

Japan

Osaka, 1970, Japan Iron & Steel Federation, Kobe Needle Tower II, 1989, Shiga Prefecture Museum, Shiga T-Zone Flight, 1995, JT Building, Toranomon, Tokyo Landing, 1970, Wakayama Prefecture Museum, Wakayama

Location unknown

Audrey I, 1966, Private Collection Audrey II, 1966, Private Collection Equilateral Quivering Tower, 1973–92 Tri-Core Column, 1974 Wing I, 1992; Ed. 4, Private collection : University of Puerto Rico – Mayaguez Rainbow Arch, 2001, Private collection displayed at Seltzer Sculpture Garden, Cleveland, OH Dragon, 2000–03