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The Italian Riviera: A One-Week Stay on the Ligurian Coast: Link to Poem New Book: The History of Western Art,&nbs p;Art Essentials series, Thames & Hudson, London Ltd.April 2023 (176 pages, 117 illustrations). New Book: How to Understand Art, Art Essentials series, Thames & Hudson, London Ltd., 2021 (176 pages, 101 illustrations). Upcoming Lecture Series: ♦ 92NY (92nd Street Y), New York, NY, Roundtable ♦ Smithsonian Associates, Washington, DC |
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CBS News Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley, interviewed by Faith Salie, for program about gargoyles, October 27, 2019, available on the following links:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/this-week-on-sunday-morning-october-27-2019/# https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RmaBnm3qoU https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gargoyles-and-grotesques-get-their-closeup/ Fulbright Scholar Awards: |
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Smithsonian Associates, Washington, DC The History of Western Art Dr Benton’s series, based on her latest book, The History of Western Art, offers a concise yet comprehensive survey of Western art from prehistory to the present day. Because architecture, sculpture, painting, and the decorative arts reflect the culture and society of their time, focus is on the history in art history. From cave paintings to the Guerrilla Girls posters, the visual arts simultaneously provide documents of the past, reveal current ideas, and influence the future. Art records what written sources cannot. Social structure, political organization, religious beliefs, scientific advances, customs, and fashions have long been given visual form by artists. SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 2024 SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 2024 |
92NY (92nd Street Y), New York, NY, Roundtable Four Great French Impressionists: Degas, Monet, Morisot, and Renoir Impressionism, although initially mocked (the name derives from an insult), became one of the best-loved styles of all times. Four of Impressionism’s greatest artists are examined in four lectures by Dr. Benton, as she returns to her former home country. These revolutionary artists rebelled against the acceptable, respectable academic style by depicting subjects from everyday life, introducing new ways of painting using lighter, brighter color than ever before in Western art, and freely applied visible brushstrokes. Each artist’s work and life are examined in detail in richly illustrated lectures. Session 1, February 9: Edgar Degas (1834–1917) is best known for his depictions of ballerinas backstage and in the studio where they are caught at their least graceful moments — rather than while performing beautifully on stage. Called a “linear Impressionist,” though he hated this term. Session 2, February 16: Claude Monet (1840–1926) created paintings in series (Rouen Cathedral, Haystacks), carefully studying changing light, weather, and atmospheric conditions at different times of the day and year. Visit his home and extraordinary garden at Giverny. Session 3, February 23: Berthe Morisot (1841–95) focused on depictions of her family, recording her upper-class life. She married Édouard Manet’s younger brother, Eugène Manet, and her favorite subject was their daughter Julie, painted with feather-light brushstrokes. Session 4, March 1: Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919), with his joyous personality, painted happy upbeat pictures even when so severely crippled with arthritis that his brush had to be strapped to his hand. His favorite subject was the young curvaceous female nude, even in his last years. |
Smithsonian Journeys, Washington, DC I will serve as the Smithsonian Expert Lecturer on the following trip: 2024 2025 ♦A River Cruise through Burgundy and Provence , Jul 8, 2025 - Jul 16, 2025 |
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Recent Publications How to Understand Art, Art Essentials series, Thames & Hudson, London, September 2021 (176 pages, 101 illustrations), with editions in French, Italian, German, Latvian, Spanish, Taiwanese and Vietnamese. |
Lectures in China American Embassy, Beijing, Public Art in America, public lecture with translators, May 13, 2021, online. Hangzhou: China Academy of Art, public lectures with translators: 1) Animals in the Art of the Middle Ages, 2) Holy Terrors: Gargoyles on Medieval Buildings, 2018. Beijing: Tsinghua University, Broadcast of my lecture on Andy Warhol, watched by more than 3,600 people, 讲座回顾 | “波普教皇”安迪·沃霍尔的一生, 2018. Shanghai: Shanghai University, Winslow Homer; American Consulate, Winslow Homer, 2018. Nanjing: Nanjing University, 1) Georgia O’Keeffe, 2) Andy Warhol, 2018. |
Podcast Conference Papers Invited plenary speaker, "Medieval Mischief: Wit and Humor in the Art of the Middle Ages," International Society of Humor Studies Conference, University of Texas - Austin, June 26, 2019. |
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Dr. Benton’s tenth book, The History of Western Art, was published with editions in Latvian (Jāna Rozes apgāds, Riga), German (Midas Verlag, Zurich), and Spanish (Arte Blume, Barcelona) by Thames & Hudson, London, 2022/23. Her How to Understand Art was published with editions in French (Flammarion, Paris), Italian (24 Ore Cultura, Milan), German (Midas Verlag, Zurich), Latvian (Jāna Rozes apgāds, Riga), Spanish (Art Blume, Barcelona),Vietnamese (Ho Chi Minh City), and Taiwanese (Domain Publishing Company, Taiwan) by Thames & Hudson in 2021. Her other books include Handbook for the Humanities (Robert DiYanni co-author), Pearson/Prentice Hall, NJ, 2014, published in paperback, as an E-book, and in Chinese translation, 2019, 2016. Arts and Culture: An Introduction to the Humanities (Robert DiYanni co-author), Pearson/Prentice Hall, NJ, two volumes and combined volume, fourth edition, 2012, and Chinese translation of second edition, 2011. Dr. Benton’s Materials, Methods, and Masterpieces of Medieval Art is published in the Praeger Series on the Middle Ages, ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, CA, 2009, in hardcover and as an E-book. Medieval Mischief: Wit and Humour in the Art of the Middle Ages, The History Press, Sutton Publishing, Stroud, Gloucestershire, 2004, examines an engaging aspect of medieval culture. Art of the Middle Ages in the World of Art series, Thames & Hudson, London, 2002, offers a complete overview of the art and architecture of medieval Western Europe. Holy Terrors: Gargoyles on Medieval Buildings, Abbeville Press, NY, 1997, is also published in French as Saintes Terreurs: Les Gargouilles dans l’Architecture Médiévale (Flammarion, Paris), 2000. The Medieval Menagerie: Animals in the Art of the Middle Ages, Abbeville Press, NY, 1992, a Book of the Month Club selection, is also published in French as Bestiaire Médiéval: Les Animaux dans l’Art du Moyen Age (Flammarion, Paris), 1992. Dr. Benton was the guest curator and catalog author for the 1995 exhibition Medieval Monsters: Dragons and Fantastic Creatures at the Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY. Articles and reviews written by Dr. Benton appear in the Periodical of Tsinghua University Art Museum (清华大学艺术博物馆馆刊), Beijing, 2020; IKON, Center for Iconographic Studies, University of Rijeka, Croatia, 2017; Proceedings of the International Conference, State Hermitage Museum Publishers, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 2017 and 2015; Encyclopedia of Humor Studies, Sage Reference, Los Angeles, CA, 2014; Set in Stone: The Face in Medieval Sculpture, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, exhibition catalog, 2007; as well as in scholarly journals including Cahiers de Civilisation Médiévale, Poitiers, 1998; Arte Medievale, Rome, 1993; Artibus et Historiae, Vienna, 1989; and Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, Munich, 1985. Dr. Benton was educated at Harvard University, Graduate School of Education, MDP diploma; earned her Ph.D. in Art History at Brown University; Master's degree in Art History at George Washington University; and Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts at Cornell University. |
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