BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
Janetta Rebold Benton is the Distinguished Professor of Art History at Pace University, NY. The recipient of two Fulbright Scholar Awards, in 2018 she was visiting professor in the graduate school of Art History, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China; in 2012 she was visiting professor in the graduate school of Art History, European University, St. Petersburg, Russia. Dr. Benton regularly presents subscription seminars for the Smithsonian Associates, Washington, DC and Roundtable for 92NY, Manhattan. She presented subscription lecture series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, every season 1988-2011, and has lectured at The Met Cloisters, NY; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Boston Museum of Fine Arts; Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach; the Schimmel Center for the Arts, NY, and elsewhere in America and abroad. She serves as the Expert Lecturer on Smithsonian Journeys and Metropolitan Museum of Art trips throughout the world. A former resident of Paris, she taught art history courses at the American Embassy.

Dr. Benton’s eleventh book, What Makes Great Art? will be published May 2027 by Abbeville Press, NY. Her book, The History of Western Art, was published by Thames & Hudson, London, 2022/23/26, and translated into Chinese (People’s Fine Arts Publishing House, Shanghai), Latvian (Jāna Rozes apgāds, Riga), German (Midas Verlag, Zurich), Spanish (Arte Blume, Barcelona), and Canadian French (Editions Hurtubise, Montreal). Her How to Understand Art was published by Thames & Hudson in 2021/23/26 and translated into Chinese (People’s Fine Arts Publishing House, Shanghai), French (Flammarion, Paris), Italian (24 Ore Cultura, Milan), German (Midas Verlag, Zurich), Latvian (Jāna Rozes apgāds, Riga), Spanish (Art Blume, Barcelona), Taiwanese (Domain Publishing Company, Taiwan), and Vietnamese (Omega Books, Hanoi).

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), was published by 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 published 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.