Hawthorn Art Night
Join us for an art talk at our school presented by Dr. Janetta Rebold Benton, Distinguished Professor of Art History at Pace University in New York.
Wednesday, November 29th, 7pm
The Hawthorn School,
483 Old Post Road, Bedford, NY
Description of the lecture:
Art Comes to New York in the Gilded Age
Americans' interest in cultural pursuits surged in the late 19th century, during the Reconstruction era following the end of the Civil War. The wealthy looked to Europe as the model to emulate for elegance and sophistication. The concept of the "Grand Tour" was part of the education for Europe’s elite, and the subject of the American humorist Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad, published to great fanfare in 1869. Along with visits to important architecture, the itinerary included art museums. Wealthy New Yorkers, upon returning from these trips, sought to make their own city a world-class mecca for the arts. Major public cultural institutions quickly appeared.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 and opened to the public in 1872. Recreate your own Grand Tour in the Met, unmatched for the scope and quality of its collections. Janetta Rebold Benton, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Art History at Pace University, will elucidate how the Met grew to achieve this, discussing the building, artwork, artists, and patrons.
Janetta Rebold Benton, Ph.D., is the Distinguished Professor of Art History at Pace University, NY. The recipient of two Fulbright Scholar Awards, to China in 2018 and to Russia in 2012. Dr. Benton regularly presents subscription seminars for the Smithsonian Associates, Washington, DC. She presented subscription lecture series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, every season 1988-2011, and has lectured widely in the US and world-wide. She is the author of ten books, some of which have been translated into French, Italian, Spanish, German, Latvian, and Chinese.
