Glorious Country: How the Artist Frederic Church Brought the World to America and America to the World” by Victoria Johnson

In this lively talk, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Victoria Johnson shares the dramatic and consequential life of the artist Frederic Church, whose footsteps she followed around the globe for her “absorbing” (Ron Chernow) and “superb” (Wall Street Journal) new biography of Church, Glorious Country, published by Scribner in May 2026 for the bicentennial of his birth. Church’s curiosity, bravery, and passion for nature drove him to explore the world, but it was his astonishing talent that allowed him to bring the world to America at a time when landscape photography was in its infancy, and most of his compatriots would never see a different country or continent. Exhibited to acclaim abroad, Church’s blockbuster paintings persuaded skeptical critics that the so-called “New World” could, in fact, give birth to towering artists and furnish the subject matter for great art. At Olana, his estate on the Hudson, he forged an enduring masterpiece of architectural, interior, and landscape design. A master artist and citizen, Church brought the world to America, and America to the world. This program is offered in conjunction with The Olana Partnership’s Frederic Church 200 initiative. To learn more, visit olana.org/fc200.

Victoria Johnson is the author of three books, including the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic. Her latest book, Glorious Country, published in May, has received rave reviews in The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and many other publications. Victoria holds a doctorate in sociology from Columbia University and an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Yale. She is Professor of Urban Policy and Planning at Hunter College of the City University of New York. Visit gloriouscountry.org to learn more.