• Article:  “The Museum as Cultural Magnet: Enhanced Experience, Increased Attendance,” The State Hermitage Museum, Museum of the 21^st Century: New Educational Strategies, Proceedings of the International Conference 25-27 November 2015, The State Hermitage Publishers, Saint Petersburg, 2017, 128-33, pls. XV-XVI, with summary in Russian.

• Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.: All-day Saturday seminar, September 23, 2017--Why, Oh Why, Do We Love Paris?: The Timeless Charm of the City of Light Click to see detail below.

• Smithsonian Journeys, Washington, DC: Study Leader on two trips in 2017. Click to see detail below.

  • The London Poem 

  • Baltics/St. Petersburg Poem

• Book: HANDBOOK FOR THE HUMANITIES (Robert DiYanni, co-author),  Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2014

• Fulbright Senior Scholar, Graduate School of Art History, European University, St. Petersburg, Russia, August 2012 - January 2013.

Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC

All-day seminar, with Parisian-inspired Lunch, Saturday, September 23, 2017.

Why, Oh Why, Do We Love Paris?: The Timeless Charm of the City of Light

It’s hard to identify the je ne sais quoi that gives Paris its powerful appeal. What has   set it apart over the centuries? Does it come from the great Gothic cathedral of Notre Dame or the delicate Sainte-Chapelle, alight with stunning stained glass windows? Perhaps it’s the art nouveau entrances that frame the Paris Metro and the Pompidou Centre. Perhaps it’s the city’s propensity to transform itself: For example, the Louvre—a medieval fortress, then royal residence, then world-class museum—most recently remade itself with I.M. Pei’s controversial pyramid-shaped entrance.

1. Medieval and Renaissance Paris:  Learn how Roman Lutetia became Paris. It was among Europe’s largest cities until its population was decimated by bubonic plague and ravaged by the Hundred Years War (1337-1453). The University of Paris was founded ca. 1150, making it one of Europe’s oldest. The Gothic style of art and architecture was developed here, complemented by stained glass windows. The original Louvre was built as a fortress to protect the royal family.

2. Baroque, Rococo, and Neoclassicism: During the reign of Louis XIII (1610-43), Paris solidified its reputation as Europe’s cultural capital. Luxurious Luxembourg Palace and gardens were created, along with the Place de La Concorde, Les Invalides, and Place Vendome. Parisian artists included Charles Le Brun, Rococo favorite Honoré Fragonard, and Jacques-Louis David, who painted scenes of the French Revolution. Political and cultural power, which had been moved to Versailles by Louis XIV, was returned to Paris as the revolution began. The Emperor Napoleon commissions the Arc de Triomphe in 1806.

Lunch: A Parisian-inspired gourmet box lunch is provided.

3. Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, and Post-Impressionism: Emperor Napoleon III chose Georges-Eugene Haussmann in 1853 to carry out a massive modernization program of boulevards, parks, and public works in Paris, and a spectacular transformation began. Narrow medieval streets gave way to broad boulevards lined with monumental buildings such as the grand Baroque Revival opera house Palais Garnier (where Edgar Degas’s painted ballerinas might have danced). Engineer Gustave Eiffel, built the tower that became France’s enduring symbol. Montmartre became the artists’ mecca; the Moulin Rouge’s risqué nightlife inspired paintings by Toulouse Lautrec. Cartoonist Honoré Daumier depicted daily life while Monet, Renoir, and other impressionist painters moved outdoors for inspiration.

Brief Interlude: Break for a glass of wine and a Parisian-inspired snack.

4. The 20th Century: Art nouveau entrances adorn the Paris Metro. Famous artists made Paris home, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall, Georges Rouault, Constantin Brancusi, Fernand Leger, Marcel Duchamp, Alberto Giacometti, Victor Vasarely. The Pompidou Centre—a cultural center built inside out—opened in 1977 and broke the rules of architectural design.  Frank Gehry's futuristic translucent Foundation Louis Vuitton opened in 2014.

For Information: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/Tickets/Reserve.aspx?id=239481

Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC

All-day  seminar, Saturday, May 20, 2017

Home Is Where the Art Is: Connecting Creativity and Place

Where did some of the most important and creative visual artists actually live and work? Sneak a peek into the private homes (and personal lives) of famous painters, sculptors, and architects. Dr. Benton compares their environments to their masterpieces. Did the artists' homes, including the surrounding gardens, influence their art? Or did the artists create homes to accommodate their image of an ideal domestic environment? And what was the life style enjoyed in these homes (and with whom was it shared)?

1. Italy: Fra Angelico, a pious Dominican monk frescoed the walls and monks' cells at San Marco monastery in Florence, where he lived, and depicted the Annunciation occurring in the architecture of his monastery, newly built by Michelozzo. Mantegna's mathematical interests appear in the home he designed entirely himself in Mantua, based on a circle within a square.  Raphael's childhood home in Urbino provides an example of a typical 15th-century home. Leonardo da Vinci began his life in rural, rustic Vinci, but concluded it in his own château, the Clos Lucé in Amboise, as the guest of King Francois Ier of France.  The great biographer, Giorgio Vasari, painted his homes in Arezzo and Florence to elevate his social status.

2. Northern Europe: Albrecht Dürer, whose scientific interests equal those of Leonardo da Vinci, lived in a large half-timber home in Nuremberg. Peter Paul Rubens made a fortune and displayed it in his home/studio in Antwerp as well as his château, Het Steen. Rembrandt, a brilliant painter, lacking Rubens's financial skill, was forced to declare bankruptcy and lost his fine brick home in Amsterdam.

3. France: Claude Monet lived in a home painted in vivid colors, with an extensive garden he designed, including the lily pond that appears in his paintngs, in Giverny. After achieving financial success, Pierre-Auguste Renoir built a home with an extensive garden at Les Collettes in idyllic Cagnes-sur-Mer in the south of France. Auguste Rodin lived in his Villa des Brillants in Meudon, outside Paris, where he had his sculpture studio, and also had a Paris address. Vincent van Gogh had 38 addresses in 37 years of life; we follow him in Mons, Paris, Arles, St-Rémy, and Auvers where his troubled life ended tragically.

4. North America: Frida Kahlo chronicled the difficulties of her life in her intimately personal paintings; she was born and died at the Blue House in Mexico City. Georgia O'Keeffe found the solitude and open space she craved at Ghost Ranch and Abiquiú in New Mexico. Frank Lloyd Wright created his own distinctive homes at Taliesin East  and West in Wisconsin and  Arizona. Philip Johnson built his iconic Glass House in Connecticut

For Information: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/Tickets/Reserve.aspx?id=238851​

Smithsonian Journeys, Washington, DC

As the Smithsonian Expert on the following trips, I present several formal lectures on each, as well as many informal talks.

2017