The French-American Cultural Foundation is delighted to launch an online webinar series with art historian, filmmaker, and storyteller Paul Glenshaw – a name familiar to audiences of the Smithsonian Associates, museums, and cultural institutions across the country.
His acclaimed Art+History lectures make paintings come alive by placing them within the human, political, and cultural landscapes that shaped them.
Now, for the first time, this celebrated series will focus specifically on the intertwined artistic worlds of France and the United States.
Great art transcends time – but it is always rooted in it. Every masterpiece is the product of a real person in a real moment, shaped by upheaval, innovation, conflict, and community. Art+History invites audiences to explore this intersection: not just what we see in a work of art, but why it was created, who shaped it, and how it reflects the world in which it was made.
The inaugural lecture begins with a radical painting that shocked Paris: Édouard Manet’s The Railway (1873).
A young woman looking calmly toward the viewer. A child facing away, mesmerized by vapor rising from a passing train. A small dog is seated obediently on a lap. Ordinary figures in an ordinary moment – yet when Manet first exhibited The Railway, his fellow Parisians recoiled. Why depict something so contemporary, so common, so unvarnished, so startlingly modern?
Paul Glenshaw will take audiences deep into the Paris that shaped this work: a city transformed politically and physically within Manet’s own lifetime. Born in medieval streets and dying in a modern capital, Manet witnessed revolutions, reconstruction, the devastation of the Franco-Prussian War, and the violent aftermath of the Commune. The Railway stands at the crossroads of these upheavals.
In this immersive session, Paul explores how the painting reflects a nation grappling with modernity – and why it was such a radical departure in French art.
We look forward to welcoming you to this special series that brings new insight, historical depth, and French-American context to some of the world’s most compelling artworks. Register for the Manet lecture here.
About Paul Glenshaw
Paul Glenshaw’s career covers several disciplines, all fueling the same goal: storytelling. In addition to being a longtime lecturer, drawing instructor, and tour leader, he is a documentary filmmaker and practicing artist.
Art+History is his long-running popular lecture series initially created for the Smithsonian Associates and has been presented in person and online to public and private groups around the country. His documentaries The Lafayette Escadrille, Anacostia Delta, and Barnstorming are all streaming on the PBS Passport platform.
He has a special interest in French-American history, and is working with Dr. Iris de Rode and Humanus Documentary Films to create En Route for Revolution, based on Dr. de Rode’s research. He is an expert in the history of early aviation and was a longtime contributor to Air & Space Smithsonian magazine. His articles have appeared in as diverse as Racquet magazine and the Folger Library’s Shakespeare and Beyond blog. He began his career at the National Gallery of Art, selling postcards in the bookstore. A lifetime resident of the Washington, DC are, he is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis.