2026 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Hudson River School painter Frederic E. Church (1826–1900). To celebrate the artist’s legacy, the Albany Institute of History & Art is organizing an exhibition that focuses on the friendship between Church and Albany-based sculptor Erastus Dow Palmer (1817–1904). Friends for half a century, Church and Palmer wrote to each other about their art, their children, and their respective farms, and visited each other frequently. In addition to examples from Church and Palmer’s correspondence, the exhibition includes sculpture, drawings, paintings, and manuscripts drawn from AIHA's collection, paired with significant public and private loans, including thirteen objects borrowed from the collection of Olana State Historic Site.
To celebrate Church’s enduring impact on American art, museums across the country are presenting exhibitions and programs related to the artist’s life and work. Among the dozens of planned commemorations, Your Friend, Frederic E. Church uniquely focuses on a remarkable body of personal correspondence preserved in the Albany Institute’s collection. By bringing these materials into dialogue with works of art and key loans, the exhibition offers insight into the relationships that shaped one of America’s most important artists.
