Frederic Church and American Art of Mourning and Remembrance

While the mid-19th century is characterized by Frederic Church’s creation of his artist-designed landscape and studio, Olana, it was also a fraught period in American life. The Civil War, high infant mortality, the dangers of childbirth, and numerous infectious diseases all kept death in the forefront of American consciousness during the 1800s. Mourning jewelry, post-mortem photography, memorial portraits, and landscape paintings sought to give solace to the living.

Presented in conjunction with the 2024 exhibition Afterglow: Frederic Church and the Landscape of Memory, this talk focuses on memorial paintings and objects …Read More

“The Women of Olana” with Allegra Davis

Allegra Davis is the former Associate Curator for The Olana Partnership at Olana State Historic Site. Most recently, she curated the exhibition Afterglow: Frederic Church and the Landscape of Memory at Olana and edited the accompanying catalogue from Hirmer Publishers. Allegra joined The Olana Partnership in 2019 after graduating from Smith College and completing a curatorial fellowship at Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park. She is now continuing her education at Boston University. Watch

Restoring a Landscape Masterpiece: The Rediscovery of Frederic Church’s Olana

Over the past decade, Thomas Woltz and his firm have led the renewal and restoration of Frederic Church’s 250-acre designed landscape at Olana, a NY State Historic Site and National Historic Landmark. Woltz will focus on the vision within the award-winning Olana Strategic Landscape Design Plan, which includes the siting of the soon-to-be-completed Frederic Church Center for Art & Landscape.

Thomas Woltz and the work of his firm, Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects (NBW), envisions design as a deeply collaborative, cross-disciplinary, research-based process essential to forging a resilient and vital future …Read More

Resurrected Landscapes: Frederic Church and the Public Park Movement

What do Frederic Church’s landscapes, New York’s Central Park, and Niagara Falls Reservation have in common? In this virtual discussion, Rebecca Bedell argues that, beyond their shared aesthetics and Church’s involvement with all three, they all are, in a sense, memorial landscapes. Watch today to learn more about how they are also therapeutic landscapes, offering solace and healing to those abraded by modern life. This webinar is offered in anticipation of Afterglow: Frederic Church and the Landscape of Memory, which opens May 12.

Rebecca Bedell is the Professor of American Art at …Read More

Frederic Church as Design Visionary: A discussion with Sheila Bridges and Young Huh

Join top interior designers Sheila Bridges and Young Huh for a very special virtual opportunity as they reflect on Frederic Church’s interior design aesthetic, sharing thoughts on the carefully curated rooms of his artist-designed house at Olana. This lively talk will be moderated by esteemed journalist Mitchell Owens and will discuss how Church’s interior design vision is both rooted in the tradition of 19th century interiors and connected to our own contemporary trends. Participants will consider how thoughtful choices and intentional decisions bred Church’s unique aesthetic and …Read More

Re-Presenting Landscape: The Paintings of Lydia Rubio

How can landscape painting serve as a source of refuge and self-reflection in today’s challenging world? During this virtual webinar, Cuban American artist Lydia Rubio will discuss how her work reinterprets the notion of “landscape,” taking inspiration from Frederic Church and members of the “Hudson River School”. Much like Church himself, Rubio’s paintings take inspiration from her travels as well as the landscape and ecology of the Hudson River and are deeply informed by her interest in philosophy, geometry, and Latin American culture. Lydia Rubio is a multidisciplinary visual artist. Born in Cuba …Read More

Coffee Extravaganza: 19th Century Displays of Abundance and the Art of Coffee Drinking

Like many Americans, artist Frederic Church was an avid coffee drinker, preferring it to tea and favoring beans from Latin America, a frequent destination for his travels. During Church’s lifetime, the United States became the largest importer of coffee in the world, sourcing most of their product from Brazil. Striking World’s Fair exhibits and other celebratory imagery obscured shortsighted agricultural methods and exploitative labor practices upon which this industry relied. During this virtual webinar, Caroline Gillaspie will explore Brazil’s impressive agricultural exhibit at the 1876 U.S. Centennial …Read More

Traveling to the “Heart of the Andes” The Andes are the world’s most complex, unexplored and biodiverse mountain range. Across an enormous variety of ecosystems, from the driest deserts to some of the wettest forests, 10% of the world’s plant species are found in these mountains, and many more are still to be discovered. For centuries, explorers, researchers and artists have felt fascination for these mountains, which still guard countless mysteries and are a continuous source of inspiration. The Heart of the Andes, by Frederic E. Church (1826–1900), is an exquisite representation of the biological richness of these breathtaking landscapes, …Read More

Exploring the Life and Legacy of Charles Ethan Porter, “the Hartford artist” The noted painter Charles Ethan Porter (1847–1923), was born in Connecticut and at times maintained a studio in Frederic Church’s hometown of Hartford where he exhibited locally. He became associated with the area and was described in local newspapers as “the Hartford artist.” During this virtual webinar, learn more about Porter’s accomplished still life and landscape paintings that were collected by prominent figures like Church and Mark Twain. Join curator Erin Monroe as she examines the challenges Porter faced navigating racial inequality and prejudices as a Black artist …Read More

The Art of the Order of Nature: Frederic Edwin Church and Humboldt’s Earthly Model Learn more about what inspired Frederic Church’s “Great Picture”. During this presentation, senior research scholar at The Metropolitan Museum of Art Kevin Avery explores the context and legacy of Church’s Heart of the Andes. By tracing Church’s travels south, Dr. Avery highlights the influence Alexander von Humboldt made on this great work. Tune in and gain a deeper understanding of how vital the Prussian naturalist’s scientific treatises were to the development of Church’s popular painting. This webinar is presented in conjunction with SPECTACLE: Frederic Church and …Read More