Artist: Kenneth Snelson (U.S.A., b. 1927)
Date: 1982
Media: Stainless steel
Credit Line: Gift of Jo Ann Schaaf and Julian Ganz, Jr., 1993.70
While studying at Black Mountain College in North Carolina, Kenneth Snelson met Buckminster Fuller, whose theories on structural design led Snelson to pursue sculpture instead of painting. Exposure to Fuller’s early experiments with the geodesic dome along with encouragement by Josef Albers spurred Snelson’s inquiry of constructive techniques as seen in Mozart I’s stainless steel geometric structure.
Mozart I consists of 18 polished metal tubes, suspended by steel cables that radiate from each end. Instead of focusing on weight and balance, Snelson experimented with new physical forms held in equilibrium. He likened the connections of Mozart I to objects as vast as solar systems because, like galaxies, Mozart I is at once a grand complicated matrix and a unified, interdependent system in space.