Frederic Church
Global Artist
Will be published approx. on 28. April 2026
Book
Hardback
264 pages
978-0-300-28517-8 (ISBN)
Description
On the two-hundredth anniversary of Frederic Edwin Church's birth, leading scholars explore how his wide-ranging work continues to resonate in today's world
The work of Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), renowned American landscape painter, was indelibly shaped by global travel. Church's art was defined by place: early trips took him to South America, across the northeastern United States, and to the Arctic; later he visited the Caribbean, Europe, and the Middle East; in his final decades, he spent long sojourns in Mexico. Intimate drawings and oil sketches executed on-site illuminate his encounters with new environments and cultures; large, extravagantly detailed paintings produced for public exhibition made him internationally famous. The designed landscapes, extensive collections, and striking architecture of his home, Olana, in the Hudson Valley, reflect the many worlds through which he traveled.
In Frederic Church: Global Artist, original essays by scholars from across the humanities reveal Church as an artist enmeshed in the global economic and imperial ventures of the nineteenth century. Church's works engage with questions of industrialization and environmental destruction, the rise and fall of empires, the construction of national identity, and the cataclysmic effects of slavery and civil war. This lavishly illustrated volume examines the artist in his time and demonstrates his continuing relevance in our own.
Published in association with the Olana Partnership
Exhibition Schedule:
Olana NY State Historic Site
(May 17-October 25, 2026)
The work of Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), renowned American landscape painter, was indelibly shaped by global travel. Church's art was defined by place: early trips took him to South America, across the northeastern United States, and to the Arctic; later he visited the Caribbean, Europe, and the Middle East; in his final decades, he spent long sojourns in Mexico. Intimate drawings and oil sketches executed on-site illuminate his encounters with new environments and cultures; large, extravagantly detailed paintings produced for public exhibition made him internationally famous. The designed landscapes, extensive collections, and striking architecture of his home, Olana, in the Hudson Valley, reflect the many worlds through which he traveled.
In Frederic Church: Global Artist, original essays by scholars from across the humanities reveal Church as an artist enmeshed in the global economic and imperial ventures of the nineteenth century. Church's works engage with questions of industrialization and environmental destruction, the rise and fall of empires, the construction of national identity, and the cataclysmic effects of slavery and civil war. This lavishly illustrated volume examines the artist in his time and demonstrates his continuing relevance in our own.
Published in association with the Olana Partnership
Exhibition Schedule:
Olana NY State Historic Site
(May 17-October 25, 2026)
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
192 color + b-w illus. + 2 gatefolds
Dimensions
Height: 287 mm
Width: 256 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
1730 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-300-28517-8 (9780300285178)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Tim Barringer is Paul Mellon Professor of the History of Art at Yale University. Elizabeth Kornhauser is curator emerita at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and senior consulting curator at Olana. Jennifer Raab is professor of the history of art at Yale University.