Robert Longhurst is an American

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

who was born in

Schenectady, New York Schenectady ( ) is a City (New York), city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the United States Census 2020, 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-most populo ...

, in 1949. At an early age he was fascinated by his father's small figurative woodcarvings. Longhurst received a Bachelor of Architecture from

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a Public university, public research university in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio located in Kent State University at Ashtabula, Ashtabula, Kent State ...

in 1975. He began his artistic career in 1976 in Cincinnati, Ohio. His first commissioned works were three figurative sculptures in black walnut for Cincinnati businessman Joe David who owned Midwest Woodworking company. In 1978 Longhurst completed a life size figure in pine of an Adirondack hermit, Noah John Rondeau for the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, New York. Although Longhurst's career began with figurative works, it soon evolved into non-representational abstraction in exotic woods, marble and granite that draws on his background in Architecture. Many of his pieces are defined as being at the intersection of where the fields of art and math overlap, and they have been discussed by mathematicians such as Nathaniel Friedman,

Reuben Hersh Reuben Hersh (December 9, 1927 – January 3, 2020) was an American mathematician and academic, best known for his writings on the nature, practice, and social impact of mathematics. Although he was generally known as Reuben Hersh, late in life h ...

, and Ivars Peterson.Friedman, Nathaniel. "Robert Longhurst: Three Sculptures." ''Hyperseeing'' July 2007: 9-12.Hersh, Reuben. ''What is Mathematics, Really?'' Oxford: University of Oxford Press, 1997. Peterson, Ivars. ''Fragments of Infinity: A Kaleidoscope of Math and Art.'' New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2001. Some of his sculptures portray

minimal surface In mathematics, a minimal surface is a surface that locally minimizes its area. This is equivalent to having zero mean curvature (see definitions below). The term "minimal surface" is used because these surfaces originally arose as surfaces that ...

s, which were named after German geometer

Alfred Enneper Alfred Enneper (June 14, 1830, Barmen – March 24, 1885 Hanover) was a German mathematician. Enneper earned his PhD from the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen in 1856, under the supervision of Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet, for his dissertati ...

. Nathaniel Friedman writes, "The surfaces f Longhurst's sculpturesgenerally have appealing sections with negative curvature (

saddle surface In mathematics, a saddle point or minimax point is a point on the surface of the graph of a function where the slopes (derivatives) in orthogonal directions are all zero (a critical point), but which is not a local extremum of the function. ...

s). This is a natural intuitive result of Longhurst's feeling for satisfying shape rather than a mathematically deduced result." Longhurst participated in the International Snow Sculpture Championships in

Breckenridge, Colorado Breckenridge is the List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule town that is the county seat and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality of Summit County, Colorado, Summit County, Colorado, United ...

, in 2000 and 2001, by joining a snow sculpting team from Minnesota. Two of his sculptures representing minimal surfaces were enlarged and carved from blocks of snow measuring 12' high x 10' wide x 10' deep."White Narcissus." ''Math Horizons'' November 2001: 2. In the 2000 championships, the team received second place, Artists' Choice Award, and People's Choice Award. Robert Longhurst lives in Chestertown, New York.

Selected Collections

* Adirondack Museum - Blue Mountain Lake, New York *American Financial Corporation - Cincinnati, Ohio *Amoco Corporation - Chicago, Illinois *ANA (

All Nippon Airways (ANA) is a Japanese airline headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. ANA operates services to both domestic and international destinations and is Japan's largest airline, ahead of its main rival flag carrier Japan Airlines. the airline has approximate ...

) Hotel - Tokyo, Japan *

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

- Chicago, Illinois * Bank of Tokyo - New York, New York *Bastion Industries - New York, New York * BMC Software - Houston, Texas *Bohlke Veneer Corporation - Fairfield, Ohio * Brown-Forman Corporation - Louisville, Kentucky *

Burlington Northern Railroad The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States–based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1995. Its historical lineage begins in the earliest days of railroad ...

- Fort Worth, Texas *Champlin Oil Corporation - Fort Worth, Texas *Chester B. Stem Incorporated - New Albany, Indiana *Cornerstone Holdings Corporation - Aspen, Colorado *Crown Associates Realty Incorporated - Beverly Hills, California *

Dana–Farber Cancer Institute Dana–Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) is a comprehensive cancer treatment and research center in Boston, Massachusetts. Dana-Farber is the founding member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Harvard's Comprehensive Cancer Center designated ...

– Boston, Massachusetts *Danis Industries - Dayton, Ohio *

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

- Durham, North Carolina *Empire Capital Corporation - Southport, Connecticut *Ensign-Bickford Industries - Simsbury, Connecticut *Fuqua Industries - Atlanta, Georgia *Ideal Textile Company - Los Angeles, California *International Woodworking Fair - Norcross, Georgia * Gary Kaplan & Associates - Los Angeles, California *

Kimball International Kimball International, Inc. is an American company which consists of furniture brands: Kimball, National, Interwoven, Etc., David Edward, D'Style and Kimball Hospitality. It is the successor to W.W. Kimball and Company, the world's largest piano a ...

- Jasper, Indiana *Louisville Courier Journal & Times - Louisville, Kentucky *Midwest Woodworking Company - Cincinnati, Ohio *

Museum of Arts and Design The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), based in Manhattan, New York City, collects, displays, and interprets objects that document contemporary and historic innovation in craft, art, and design. In its exhibitions and educational programs, the ...

- New York, New York *National City Bank - Marion, Ohio *National Reinsurance Corporation - Stamford, Connecticut *Northern Natural Gas Company - Omaha, Nebraska *Norton Simon Collection - New York, New York *Prime Holding Company - Austin, Texas *Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines - Oslo, Norway *Seamless Technologies Incorporated - Morristown, New Jersey *Seemac Incorporated - Carmel, Indiana *Seven Bridges Foundation - Greenwich, CT *Shipman Goodwin - Hartford, Connecticut *

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

- Washington, D.C. *Southwest Psychiatric Associates - Torrance, California *

Sperry Corporation Sperry Corporation was a major American equipment and electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the 20th century. Sperry ceased to exist in 1986 following a prolonged hostile takeover bid engineered by Burroughs ...

- New York, New York * Takasago International Corporation - Rockleigh, New Jersey *Corning Tropel Corp. - Fairport, New York *Valley National Bank - McAllen, Texas *

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

- Ann Arbor, Michigan *Victor Wire & Cable - Los Angeles, California *Wigand Corporation - Dallas, Texas

References

External links

Robert Longhurst’s website

of Dr. Carlo H. Sequin, a professor of computer science at UC Berkeley
''Hyperseeing'' (The Journal of the International Society of the Arts, Mathematics, and Architecture), November 2006

''Hyperseeing'' (The Journal of the International Society of the Arts, Mathematics, and Architecture), July 2007

* ttp://www.clinefineart.com/ Cline Fine Art Gallery {{DEFAULTSORT:Longhurst, Robert 1949 births Living people Mathematical artists 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists 21st-century American sculptors 21st-century American male artists American male sculptors American woodcarvers Kent State University alumni People from Schenectady, New York