Kenneth Snelson

Kenneth Snelson was a sculptor whose artwork combined art and science to create constructions that, despite being large and made of metal, appear to float. The technique he used of threading wire through metal struts, or pipes, was based on the engineering principles of tension and compression, nicknamed “tensegrity” by R. Buckminster Fuller. The wire is pulled taught and kept at such a tension as to resist the compression imposed by the struts. Snelson studied architecture with Fuller at Black Mountain College in North Carolina in the summers of 1948 and 1949. Snelson also studied with French artist, Fernand Léger, in Paris. In addition to sculpting, he was also a photographer. Snelson, along with Mark di Suvero, Charles Ginnever, John Raymond Henry, and Lyman Kipp co-founded ConStruct, the artist-owned gallery that promoted sculptural exhibitions in the United States.

[Source: Museum Staff - Whitney Richardson]