All upcoming Art & Architecture programs

For 115 years, Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, has stood as one of the world’s leading collections of plants, showcasing botanical splendor and state-of-the-art glasshouses. Celebrate the yuletide season at Longwood during a day that explores a newly reopened conservatory, holiday-themed gardens, and a stunning light display.

New York City in the early decades of the 20th century was a shaping force of America’s national culture. Cultural historian George Scheper explores the impact of the Progressive Era and the subsequent Jazz Age as reflected in the art, literature, and architecture created in the metropolis. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

In the late 1930s and early 1940s the United States saw an explosion of exhibitions of art and artifacts from the pre-Columbian Americas. As World War II loomed, America promoted cultural diplomacy with its hemispheric neighbors as part of the Pan-Americanism movement, which sought to create greater international understanding and collaboration. Ellen Hoobler, a curator at Baltimore’s Walters Art Museum, explores the idea of cultural diplomacy and the important role art can play between nations. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

By the year 2100, the global population is predicted to be 10 billion, 2 billion more than now. Architect Vishaan Chakrabarti sees this as an opportunity to build a more ecologically healthy and equitable world centered on well-designed communities with new forms of affordable, sustainable housing. Drawing from his new book, The Architecture of Urbanity: Designing for Nature, Culture, and Joy, Chakrabarti says that caring for the character and culture of communities can be the key to solving urgent global and political challenges.

One of the greatest colorists, Pierre Bonnard created portraits, landscapes, and interiors built of luscious brushwork and informed by a freedom that allowed him to envision the world in a dreamlike, personal way unbound by constraints of visual realism or academic artistic conventions. Art critic Judy Pomeranz explores Bonnard’s vision, life, and influences and the world in which he lived. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

During the winter season, Cape May, New Jersey, transforms from a beach destination into a storybook holiday town. A two-day tour offers the opportunity to experience this National Historic Landmark site and its Victorian elegance during a magical time of year.

Among the city-states of Italy, Mantua stands out for its remarkable transformation under the Gonzaga family from 1328 to 1707. Despite their often-tyrannical rule and focus on warfare, the Gonzagas significantly elevated Mantua’s status through their patronage, ushering in a golden age of the arts and architecture. Art historian Elaine Ruffolo traces the Gonzagas’ reign and the dynamics of court life in a city that remains a vibrant testament to its Renaissance legacy. (World Art History Certificate elective, ½ credit)

Nestled among bustling streets in the heart of Paris, the iconic Père Lachaise cemetery harbors stories of intrigue, fame, artistic brilliance, and cultural significance. Unravel the cemetery's secrets and celebrate its role as a sanctuary of memory and reflection with art historian Madeline Díaz, who explores why the 220-year-old Père Lachaise is not merely a resting place for the departed but a testament to Parisian history itself.

The Civil War had as profound and lasting an impact on American art as it did on American culture. Eleanor Jones Harvey, author of The Civil War and American Art and senior curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, explores the “metaphorical war” in which landscape painters conveyed the mood of the nation in their work and genre painters addressed slavery and questioned the kind of nation that would emerge from the conflict. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

In the latter half of the 20th century, architects broke free from the restraints of individual traditional styles and found new inspiration in a mix of them, creating combinations of bright colors and asymmetrical shapes interpreted in a variety of materials. Modern architecture specialist Bill Keene surveys the diverse threads linking the elements in this approach to design as seen in the works of I.M. Pei, Philip Johnson, Frank Gehry, Michael Graves, and other Postmodern creators who rejected the formal for the unusual, the colorful, and the unexpected. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)