Glorious Country: How Frederic Church Brought the World to America and America to the World - Talk by Victoria Johnson

September 13th, 2026 - 2:00pm

Free with admission

In this lively, illustrated talk, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Victoria Johnson shares the dramatic and consequential life of 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. 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 countrymen and countrywomen 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. Presented in Frederic Church’s bicentennial year.