Lynne Cooke

This talk with contemporary art curator Lynne Cooke will explore the dynamic intersections between credentialed artists who studied in a traditional school setting and their contemporary counterparts who have worked at a tangent to American modernism over the course of the last century. Cooke will contest canonical histories that position the self-taught artist on the mainstream's margins, offering an alternative narrative that is at once more inclusive, layered, and diverse.

Since 2014, Cooke has served as senior curator, special projects in modern art, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Before assuming this position, she held a two-year appointment as the Andrew W. Mellon Professor at the National Gallery’s Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, where her research focused on the interface between mainstream and self-taught art in the US in the 20th century. This appointment followed her time as the deputy director and chief curator at the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, Spain (2008–2012) and as curator at the Dia Art Foundation in New York City (1991–2008).

Cooke has organized major exhibitions for a number of notable artists, including Rosemarie Trockel, Blinky Palermo, Richard Serra, and Wexner Center Artist Residency Award recipient Zoe Leonard. She also cocurated the 1991 Carnegie International exhibition at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh.