Kenneth Duane Snelson (June 29, 1927 – December 22, 2016) was an American contemporary sculptor and photographer. His sculptural works are composed of flexible and rigid components arranged according to the idea of '
tensegrity
Tensegrity, tensional integrity or floating compression is a structural principle based on a system of isolated components under compression inside a network of continuous tension, and arranged in such a way that the compressed members (usual ...
'. Snelson preferred the descriptive term floating compression.
Snelson said his former professor
Buckminster Fuller
Richard Buckminster Fuller (; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, publishing m ...
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
Pendleton is a city and the county seat of Umatilla County, Oregon. The population was 17,107 at the time of the 2020 census, which includes approximately 1,600 people who are incarcerated at Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution.
Pendleton ...
, in 1927. He studied at the
University of Oregon
The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...
in Eugene, at the
Black Mountain College
Black Mountain College was a private liberal arts college in Black Mountain, North Carolina. It was founded in 1933 by John Andrew Rice, Theodore Dreier, and several others. The college was ideologically organized around John Dewey's educatio ...
, and with
Fernand Léger
Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually modified into a more figurative, po ...
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
The Park Place Gallery was a contemporary cooperative art gallery, in operation from 1963 to 1967, and was located in New York City. The Park Place Gallery was a notable as a post-World War II gallery for both its location and that it supported a ...
in New York in the 1960s. Snelson also did research on the shape of the
atom
Every atom is composed of a nucleus and one or more electrons bound to the nucleus. The nucleus is made of one or more protons and a number of neutrons. Only the most common variety of hydrogen has no neutrons.
Every solid, liquid, gas ...
. Snelson continued to work in his
SoHo
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
The area was develo ...
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
Marco Polo di Suvero (born September 18, 1933, in Shanghai, China), better known as Mark di Suvero, is an abstract expressionist sculptor and 2010 National Medal of Arts recipient.
Biography Early life and education
Marco Polo di Suvero was b ...
,
John Raymond Henry
John Raymond Henry (August 11, 1943 – November 1, 2022) was an American sculptor. Henry's sculpture has been described as huge welded steel drawings.Lyman Kipp and Charles Ginnever.
After suffering from
prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that su ...
, Snelson died on December 22, 2016 at the age of 89.
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
The Birmingham Museum of Art is a museum in Birmingham, Alabama. It has one of the most extensive collections of artwork in the Southeastern United States, with more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts repr ...
, Birmingham
California
* ''City Boots'', 1968, J. Patrick Lannon Foundation, Los Angeles
* ''Mozart I'', 1982, Stanford University, Palo Alto
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was desi ...
, Washington
* ''Untitled Maquette'', 1975,
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was desi ...
, 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
The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U ...
, Bethesda
* ''Easy Landing'', 1977,
City of Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...
, Baltimore
*'' Six Number Two'', 1967, Annmarie Sculpture Garden (Smithsonian partner/annex site),
Solomons, Maryland
Solomons, also known as Solomons Island, is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Calvert County, Maryland, United States. The population was 2,368 at the 2010 census, up from 1,536 in 2000. Solomons is a popular weeken ...
Massachusetts
* ''Mozart III'', 2008, Science Center,
Wellesley College
Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficia ...
, 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, just north of 27th Street between Main Street and Grand Blvd, at the South end of the Crown Center complex. The sculpture consists of 30–40 aluminum tubes held together and apart by steel cables. The entire assembly is roughly 23 meters on each of three sides and roughly that tall, with the low point being roughly 5 meters above the ground.This description was judged by eye from the image in Google Earth. It could be improved by closer inspection.
Freedom of panorama
Freedom of panorama (FOP) is a provision in the copyright laws of various jurisdictions that permits taking photographs and video footage and creating other images (such as paintings) of buildings and sometimes sculptures and other art works ...
in the United States does not extend to art work. Thus, including photos of this in Wikimedia Commons would require the permission of the owner, Crown Center.
Nebraska
* ''Able Charlie'', 1983,
Joslyn Art Museum
The Joslyn Art Museum is the principal fine arts museum in the state of Nebraska, United States. Located in Omaha, it was opened in 1931 at the initiative of Sarah H. Joslyn in memory of her husband, businessman George A. Joslyn. It is the only ...
, Omaha
New York
* ''Coronation Day'', 1980, City of Buffalo, Buffalo
* ''E.C. Column'', 1969–81,
Albright-Knox Art Gallery
The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum at 1285 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York, in Delaware Park. the museum's Elmwood Avenue campus is temporarily closed for construction. It hosted ...
Storm King Art Center
Storm King Art Center, commonly referred to as Storm King and named after its proximity to Storm King Mountain, is an open-air museum located in New Windsor, New York. It contains what is perhaps the largest collection of contemporary outdo ...
, Mountainville
* ''Mozart II'', 1982, Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Garden at Pepsico, Purchase
* ''Sun River'', 1967,
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...
, New York
* ''One World Trade Center antenna/spire'', 2006,
One World Trade Center
One World Trade Center (also known as One World Trade, One WTC, and formerly Freedom Tower) is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Me ...
Asheville Art Museum The Asheville Art Museum is a community-based nonprofit visual art organization in Western North Carolina (WNC) and is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. The Museum is located on the center square of downtown Asheville, 2 South Pack Squ ...
, Asheville
Pennsylvania
* ''Forest Devil'', 1975–77, Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh
Ohio
* ''Forest Devil'', 1975,
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...
, Cincinnati
* ''V-X'', 1968,
Columbus Museum of Art
The Columbus Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Formed in 1878 as the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts (its name until 1978), it was the first art museum to register its charter with the state of Ohio. The museum collect ...
, Columbus
Oklahoma
* ''Sleeping Dragon'', 2002–03,
Kirkpatrick Oil Company Building
Kirkpatrick is an Irish (Ulster) and Scottish surname, and occasionally a given name, possibly a branch of the Cenél nEógain of the Northern Uí Néill. The name traditionally relates to a church ("kirk") dedicated to Saint Patrick.Way, George ...
, Oklahoma City
Tennessee
* ''Dragon II'', 2005,
Knoxville Museum of Art
The Knoxville Museum of Art (KMA), is an art museum in Knoxville, Tennessee. It specializes in historical and contemporary art pieces from the East Tennessee region. According to its mission statement, the museum "celebrates the art and artists o ...
, Knoxville
* ''V-X-II'', 1973-4,
Hunter Museum
The Hunter Museum of American Art is an art museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The museum's collections include works representing the Hudson River School, 19th century genre painting, American Impressionism, the Ashcan School, early modernism, ...
, Chattanooga
Texas
* ''Northwood'', 1969, Northwood Institute, Cedar Hills
Vermont
* "Hard Wired", Bennington (College)
Wisconsin
* ''Northwoods III'', 1970,
Milwaukee Art Museum
The Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) is an art museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its collection contains nearly 25,000 works of art.
Location and Visit
Located on the lakefront of Lake Michigan, the Milwaukee Art Museum is one of the largest art museu ...
, Milwaukee
International
Germany
* ''Soft Landing'', 1975–77, Berlin Nationalgalerie, Berlin
* ''Avenue K'', 1968, City of Hannover
Space frame
In architecture and structural engineering, a space frame or space structure ( 3D truss) is a rigid, lightweight, truss-like structure constructed from interlocking struts in a geometric pattern. Space frames can be used to span large areas wit ...