Dr. Jennifer Roberts

Biography

Jennifer Roberts is a prominent art historian whose scholarship focuses on the intersection of the arts and natural sciences, as well as the history, theory, craft, and materiality of art. She received her A.B. in Art History from Stanford University in 1992 and completed her Ph.D. in the History of Art at Yale University in 2000. She joined the Harvard faculty in 2002 and has held the Slade Professorship of Fine Arts at Cambridge University in 2019, and delivered the esteemed Mellon Lectures at the National Gallery of Art in 2021. Her current projects challenge the binary divisions traditionally assumed to exist between the humanities and sciences. One notable project is a forthcoming book titled 'Life Signs,' co-written with artist Dario Robleto, which explores the implications of sending interstellar messages over long distances. Roberts is also known for her published works, including 'Mirror-Travels: Robert Smithson's History' (2004) and 'Transporting Visions: Movement and the Images of Early America' (2014), both of which examine the material history of art and communication. She has curated significant exhibitions, including 'Jasper Johns/In Press: Crosshatch Works and Logic Print' at Harvard Art Museums in 2012. Roberts has co-founded Harvard's Minding Making Project and teaches a course with artist Matt Saunders that integrates theoretical and practical knowledge in printmaking.

Research Interests