Smithsonian Associates - Educating and Entertaining Audiences for More Than 50 Years

From colossal Olmec heads to the paintings of Frida Kahlo, Aztec temples to Mexican murals, this survey of Latin American art sweeps through the centuries. Join art historian Michele Greet, who traces the significant creators and trends that defined and shaped the arts of Latin America from their earliest expressions through the 19th and 20th centuries. (World Art History Certificate core course, 1 credit)

Their scandals became the stuff of legends, but this royal family in just three generations, reshaped the monarchy and changed England, Europe, and the world. Scholar Carol Ann Lloyd Stanger of the Folger Shakespeare Library leads a look behind the Tudors’ carefully contrived image of monarchy.

Tudor and Renaissance scholar Carol Ann Lloyd-Stanger explores how London served as a backdrop and inspiration for William Shakespeare. She reveals how he was inspired by the humanity he observed in the city to create the unforgettable worlds of his plays.

In the 1890s, the first great American musical craze, ragtime, swept the nation—and the sounds of the parlor piano would never be the same. Composer and pianist Orrin Grossman traces the form from its beginnings to the more complex styles of stride and “novelty” piano in a lively and entertaining program that includes Joplin’s wonderful rags and a few of his own arrangements of favorite Gershwin’s songs.

Since its very beginning, Hollywood has made audiences laugh in forms from slapstick to screwball, romance to social satire, musicals to gross-out teen films. Media expert Brian Rose looks at major highlights of screen comedy over the last 125 years, drawing on more than 40 examples from Hollywood’s funniest films. Prepare to LOL.

Great art is timeless, and speaks to us across time, culture and space. Yet great works come from real people living real lives. Paul Glenshaw looks at three iconic works by Jacques-Louis David that capture Napoleon and how the collaboration of artist and subject established an imperial image for the world. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Discover how visual art can inspire creative writing and how writing can offer a powerful way to experience art. Join Mary Hall Surface, founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, for three online workshops that explore essential elements of writing and styles through close looking, word-sketching, and imaginative response to prompts. This session focuses on Character: Discover Dimensions.