THE SNOWDEN INSTITUTE
RESEARCH . VALUATION . EXHIBITIONS
About M.L. Snowden
M.L. Snowden shapes her bronzes with the tools of Rodin along with techniques of her own invention. The sculptor advances her art form as a living master of select 19th century bronze casting, and metal patina finishing methods, renewing and reinventing metallurgy at the millennium. Indeed, across forty years, Snowden has invented a range of significant foundry advances in extrusion, gravity pour and centrifugal casting protocols. Through her important and sweeping oeuvre, achieved through a style recognized worldwide as her unique handprint, Snowden invents and redefines the art of figurative bronze at the millennium.
About M.L. Snowden and The Legacy of Rodin
Auguste Rodin’s tools and techniques were bequeathed to Snowden through her father George Holburn Snowden (1901-1990, Who Was Who in American Art) by his mentor Swiss sculptor, Robert Georges Eberhard. George H. Snowden was a sculpture educator at Yale University. His work includes an extensive list of commissioned sculptures which now constitute national historic landmarks.
M.L. Snowden has followed in her father’s footsteps, dedicating her life and career to advancing the art of sculpture through her own unique bronze vision. Through the decades, Snowden has continued to build sculpture alone without models or assistants. Thus, M.L. Snowden has pursued the art of sculpture as a solitary, reclusive figure as the last direct link to a specialized figurative métier.
Fusing science and art, Snowden is noted for transforming a heavy, difficult and masculine art form into a highly energetic vision. In her calling as a woman artist, M.L. Snowden constantly challenges and reshapes gender perceptions through single handedly forging titanic bronze outlays.
According to Dr. Marie Busco, Curator and author with Philippe de Montebello of the Metropolitan Museum of Art: “Rodin and His Contemporaries The B. Gerald Cantor Collection”, M.L. Snowden is the last living inheritor of the legendary Paris Atelier of Rodin. On entering an M.L. Snowden exhibition, one is immediately drawn into the presence of masculine mastery, only to discover that a woman with small hands stands at the heart of the art. In this locale, one steps beyond the work’s physical presence into its larger, timeless spirit. The work exists beyond its program, beyond what one can say about it. Snowden’s sculpture rises above gender; where the art communicates even beyond its physical resource and eloquence, rising forward to touch the spirit of humankind. Snowden is a great contemporary master whose sculpture is of significant historic importance.”