WEBINAR – Frederic Church 200: See the World in 2026

Did you know 2026 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frederic Church? To celebrate, The Olana partnership is launching a special national initiative, Frederic Church 200. Learn more about what this exciting year will entail during this webinar with Sean E. Sawyer, President of The Olana Partnership and Elizabeth Kornhauser, Chair of The Church 200 Committee, moderated by Sylvia Yount, Lawrence A. Fleischman Curator in Charge of the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This conversation will highlight Church’s legacy as a national and global artist, with paintings in more than 70 public art museums across the United States and in Europe, and his masterwork, Olana. Join this discussion to learn more about how to get involved in the celebration and participate in exhibitions and programs throughout 2026.

Dr. Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser is Curator Emerita at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Senior Curator and Chair, The Frederic Church Bicentennial Committee, The Olana Partnership. She is co-curator for the exhibition and catalogue: Frederic Church: Global Artist, at Olana State Historic Site, on view from May 17 – October 25, 2026.  She served as the Alice Pratt Brown Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from 2010 to 2023. And intermittently held the titles of Deputy Director, Chief Curator, and Krieble Curator of American Painting and Sculpture at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art from 1997 to 2010. 

Sean Sawyer has served as the Washburn & Susan Oberwager President of The Olana Partnership since May 2015. He received a B.A. summa cum laude in Art History & Archaeology from Princeton University in 1988 and his Ph.D. in Architectural History from Columbia University in 1999.  Prior to joining Olana, Sean was the Executive Director of The Royal Oak Foundation, the American partner of the National Trust of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.  Sean volunteers his time as a board member of the Columbia County Economic Development Corporation.

Sylvia Yount is the Lawrence A. Fleischman Curator in Charge of the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she is responsible for the administrative and curatorial oversight of the department of historical works by African American, Asian American, Euro-American, Latin American, and Native American artists, from the colonial period to the early-twentieth century. Before moving to the Met, she served in curatorial leadership positions at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the High Museum of Art, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In addition to completing pivotal collection reinstallations, Yount has organized major exhibitions, with accompanying catalogues, on diverse artists and ideas. She continues to lecture and publish widely on American art and culture as well as on issues of curatorial responsibility and museum practice.