Exhibitions

Olana loaned five works to the exhibition In the Temple of the Self: The Artist’s Residence as a Total Work of Art presented by the Museum Villa Stuck, Munich. Olana is one of twenty artist homes highlighted in the exhibition and one of only three representing the United States. Read More

All the Raj – Frederic Church and Lockwood de Forest: Painting, Decorating and Collecting at Olana, an exhibition featuring oil sketches and decorative arts by landscape painter and 19th century tastemaker Lockwood de Forest, is currently on view at Olana, the historic home and studio of Frederic Church. Read More

This documentary installation shines light on the Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios (HAHS) program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  HAHS is a consortium of institutions across the United States committed to the conservation, interpretation, and public accessibility of artists’ homes and workspaces.  This exhibition features information about the consortium and documentary photographs and personal artists’ quotes from its nearly 40 member sites, including an image of Frederic Church and his son on a camel in Beirut (1868), the trip which inspired the Persian-style house and studio the painter would later build at Olana. Read More

Olana, the home and artist-designed landscape of nineteenth-century Hudson River School painter Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), loaned thirteen works from its collection for the exhibition Through American Eyes: Frederic Church and the Landscape Oil Sketch, which was on view at the National Gallery, London, from February 6 through April 28, 2013. Read More

Olana’s 250-acre landscape was originally designed in response to its essential and spectacular views–the “Olana Viewshed”–by Hudson River School artist Frederic Church. On September 13, during this one-day exhibition event, audiences will explore the property’s undiscovered roads and naturalistic scenes as they encounter each project site. Picnicking will take place at a breathtaking clearing, which overlooks the Hudson River, the Catskill Mountains and beyond. The event will culminate with a performance by celebrated composer and artist William Basinski. Read More

Frederic Church was America’s most important painter during the middle years of the 19th century. While famous for his scenes of the Arctic, South America, and the Near East, his landscapes of Maine were central to his career for over four decades. This exhibition explored first his early mastery of the conventions of art history, the expressions of national history during his maturity, and finally the poignant reflections of personal history in his later years. Guest curated by John Wilmerding, the Christopher Binyon Sarofim Professor of American art, emeritus, at Princeton University. Read More

Peter Aaron is a pioneer in combining cinematic style with architectural photography techniques. Now working with digital capture, his well-composed, trademark images are always lively and luminous. Read More

The Olana Partnership and the Hudson Opera House presented the exhibition Art Meets Art: Perspectives On and Beyond Olana. The exhibition guest curated by Richard Roth showcased thirty-five contemporary artists who live and work in the area around Hudson, New York. The exhibition displayed photographs, paintings, posters and multi-media works inspired by Olana: the family home, studio, estate and working farm created as an environment embracing architecture, art, landscape and views by the eminent Hudson River School painter, Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900). Read More

Nearly a half century ago, Olana was almost destroyed. Olana Preservation, a group of concerned art historians, preservationists and individuals living in the Hudson Valley and New York City, joined forces to save Frederic Church’s three-dimensional masterpiece. A LIFE Magazine article entitled “Must This Mansion Be Destroyed?” brought national attention to the campaign and ensured the venture’s success. In 1966 Olana Preservation and New York State partnered to purchase Olana and establish it as a state historic site. This collaborative effort has provided a standard of excellence for the preservation of this national treasure— moving well beyond “the mansion” to undertake major restoration projects throughout the 250-acre designed landscape. Read More

Two weeks before the scheduled debut of Hudson River School landscape painter Frederic Church’s masterwork The Icebergs, Fort Sumter was bombarded marking the start of the American Civil War. Instead of cancelling the unveiling of the painting at Goupil’s Gallery, Church re-titled his masterpiece: “The North” Church’s Picture of Icebergs showing his support for the northern cause. Read More