Past Exhibitions

Treasures from Olana – Landscapes by Frederic Edwin Church

Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900) was probably the most renowned American artist of the Civil War era. Trained by Thomas Cole, the founder of the Hudson River School of landscape painters, and stimulated by the writings of the famed explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, Church early demonstrated immense talent and global curiosity. He traveled extensively,... Read More

Treasures from Olana – Landscapes by Frederic Edwin Church

Groundswell

  • Olana’s Ridge Road - One Day Only
  • September 19 - September 19, 2015

The Olana Partnership and Wave Farm’s WGXC 90.7-FM are pleased to co-present a third iteration of their award-winning exhibition event Groundswell. Hundreds will converge at Olana State Historic Site for site-specific performance and works and in sound, installation, broadcast, and movement. Read More

Groundswell

Olana on the road

In The Temple of The Self

  • Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, Germany
  • November 20, 2013 - March 2, 2014

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

In The Temple of The Self

All the Raj: Frederic Church and Lockwood de Forest

  • Evelyn and Maurice Sharp Gallery
  • May 11 - November 2, 2014
Painting, Decorating and Collecting at Olana. Guest curated by Roberta A. Mayer

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

All the Raj: Frederic Church and Lockwood de Forest

Preserving Creative Spaces

  • Coachman’s House Gallery at Olana
  • June 28 - November 2, 2014

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

Preserving Creative Spaces

Through American Eyes: Frederic Church and the Landscape Oil Sketch

  • Scottish National Gallery  |  May 11 - September 8, 2013  |  National Gallery London  |  February 6 - April 28, 2013

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

Through American Eyes: Frederic Church and the Landscape Oil Sketch

Groundswell

  • Olana’s Ridge Road  |  September 22, 2013  |  September 13, 2014

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

Groundswell

Maine Sublime

  • Cleveland Museum of Art October 5, 2014-January 25, 2015 | Olana State Historic Site, Evelyn and Maurice Sharp Gallery June 9-October 27, 2013 | Portland Museum of Art June 30-September 30, 2012

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

Maine Sublime

Olana’s Dynamic Landscape – Photographs by Peter Aaron

  • Olana Coachman’s House Gallery
  • May 19 - October 31, 2012

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

Olana’s Dynamic Landscape – Photographs by Peter Aaron

Art Meets Art – Perspectives on and Beyond Olana

  • Olana’s Coachman’s House Gallery
  • June 9 - October 27, 2013

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

Art Meets Art – Perspectives on and Beyond Olana