Important Update: 92Y remains open
Post Impressionism was less a reaction against Impressionism than a desire to improve upon it.
Turning away from Impressionism’s intentionally objective recording of what the eye sees to a more personal interpretation, some Post-Impressionists painted slowly, methodically, using color for pictorial structure, while others used unnatural colors to convey their own emotion and to evoke emotion in the viewer. Unlike the Impressionists who exhibited together in Paris, the Post-Impressionists did not coalesce as a group.
Join Dr. Janetta Rebold Benton for two illustrated talks on this significant time period.
Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), perhaps the slowest painter ever, took up to 20 minutes between brushstrokes, which he referred to as “little planes.” Yet his methodical approach would lead to Analytical Cubism in the early 20th century.
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) abandoned a successful life in finance in Paris (as well as his wife and five children), for an exotic life of travel, especially to Martinique and Tahiti, seeking an unspoiled, non-European life. His colorful paintings evoke his new tropical surroundings.
Vincent van Gogh (1853-90) painted highly charged images executed quickly with pure brilliant colors, thick paint, and rapid brushstrokes. His paintings reflect the severe emotional swings he suffered; his life would end in suicide.
Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) was American by birth but moved to Paris to paint. An African-American, his paintings, often of Christian subjects portrayed with profound spirituality (his father was a bishop), brought him international success.
These are two separate programs taking place on February 26 and March 5. If you would like to attend Part I and Part II, please purchase tickets to both dates. This program takes place from 12-2:15 pm, with a 15-minute intermission.
This program will be presented live with an opportunity to interact with the speaker. It will not be recorded.
Programs taking place online:An access link will be emailed to you after purchase.
Programs taking place in our NYC facilities:Please read our safety guidelines before visiting our building.
Programs taking place online and in our NYC facilities:Please select which experience you wish to participate in when registering. Online participants will be emailed an access link after purchase. In-person participants should read our safety guidelines before attending the program.
Janetta Rebold Benton is the Distinguished Professor of Art History at Pace University, NY. She is 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 at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, since 1988. She also presented subscription lecture series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, every season 1988-2011, and has lectured at The Cloisters, NYC; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Boston Museum of Fine Arts; Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach; the Schimmel Center for the Arts, NYC; 92nd Street Y, NYC, and elsewhere in America and abroad, including the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia and the Louvre, Paris, France. She serves as the Expert Lecturer on many Smithsonian Journeys and Metropo ...
Janetta Rebold Benton is the Distinguished Professor of Art History at Pace University, NY. She is 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 at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, since 1988. She also presented subscription lecture series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, every season 1988-2011, and has lectured at The Cloisters, NYC; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Boston Museum of Fine Arts; Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach; the Schimmel Center for the Arts, NYC; 92nd Street Y, NYC, and elsewhere in America and abroad, including the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia and the Louvre, Paris, France. She serves as the Expert Lecturer on many Smithsonian Journeys and Metropolitan Museum of Art trips throughout the world. A former resident of Paris, she taught courses in art history there as the Art Historian at the American Embassy.
Dr. Benton’s newest book is How to Understand Art, Thames & Hudson, London, forthcoming 2021 in the Art Essentials series. The fifth edition of Arts and Culture: An Introduction to the Humanities is in preparation (Robert DiYanni co-author, Pearson/Prentice Hall, NJ, two volumes and combined volume, fourth edition, 2012; Chinese translation of the fourth edition forthcoming from Tsinghua University Press, Beijing, 2020; Chinese translation of the second edition, 2011. Handbook for the Humanities (Robert DiYanni co-author, Pearson/Prentice Hall, NJ, 2014, is published in paperback, as an E-book, and in Chinese translation, 2016. Her other books include Materials, Methods, and Masterpieces of Medieval Art, Praeger Series on the Middle Ages, ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, CA, 2009, available 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, Thames & Hudson, London, 2002, is published in the World of Art series. Holy Terrors: Gargoyles on Medieval Buildings, Abbeville Press, NY, 1997, is also published in French as Saintes Terreurs: Les Gargouilles dans l’Architecture Médiévale, 2000. Her book, 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, 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 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; Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition catalog, Set in Stone: The Face in Medieval Sculpture, 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.
Dr. Janetta Rebold Benton: Escape to England through Art and Architecture
Dr. Janetta Rebold Benton: Escape to Sicily
Dr. Janetta Rebold Benton: Escape to France: Impressionism
Janetta Rebold Benton: Escape to France: Post Impressionism
Online Class
Harvey Granat Presents
Online Class with Harvey Granat and guest Robert Kimball and a performance by Stephanie Blythe