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Artist Dorothea Rockburne in Conversation with Mathematician Jennifer Taback and Curator Joachim Homann

A woman, seen from the shoulders up, is making eye contact with the viewer. She is smiling and looking over her right shoulder.
Photo: Stefan Ruiz for The New York Times Style Magazine.

Lecture Leventritt Lecture

Dorothea Rockburne discusses her artistic practice with Jennifer Taback, professor of mathematics at Bowdoin College, and Joachim Homann, the Maida and George Abrams Curator of Drawings at the Harvard Art Museums.

Taking her recent installation at Dia: Beacon as a point of departure, Rockburne makes the case for drawing as a form of intellectual inquiry. In conversation, she reflects on her long experience with the manipulation of artistic materials, her fascination with mathematical thinking, and the western art historical tradition.

Born in Montreal, Rockburne first attended classes at the École des beaux-arts in Montreal and the Montreal Museum School of Fine Arts and Design before enrolling at the now legendary Black Mountain College in Asheville, North Carolina. Among her most influential teachers there was mathematician Max Dehn, who introduced students to mathematical thinking by relating it to nature, often teaching classes in the woods surrounding the school. Rockburne then moved to New York and has been exhibiting her work domestically, most notably in the Museum of Modern Art, and internationally since 1970.

This talk will take place online via Zoom. Free admission, but registration is required. To register, please complete this online form.

For instructions on how to join a meeting in Zoom, please click here. If you have any questions, please contact am_register@harvard.edu.

The Harvard Art Museums are committed to accessibility for all visitors. For anyone requiring accessibility accommodations for our programs, please contact us at am_register@harvard.edu at least 48 hours in advance.

Support for the lecture is provided by the M. Victor Leventritt Fund, which was established through the generosity of the wife, children, and friends of the late M. Victor Leventritt, Harvard Class of 1935. The purpose of the fund is to present outstanding scholars of the history and theory of art to the Harvard and Greater Boston communities.