Download Rally `round the Flag: - The Olana Partnership

self from the personal cost that thousands of
tion early in the fight led to multiple Union
double rainbow arcing over a mountain-
ment. He developed the image from a series
defeats. During this period the artist painted
scape; and its portentous sister-painting, Au-
of crepuscular portraits, such as Twilight, a
two of his most tumultuous or brooding
rora Borealis (1864–65); Smithsonian Ameri-
Sketch, in this gallery, which he painted in the
images, the tsunami-like Under Niagara
can Art Museum, Washington, D.C.), with
1850s. His picture dealer had the painting, ti-
(1862; unlocated) and the fuming Cotopaxi
its eerie iris of ionized air. That picture was
The exhibition is funded by The Olana Partnership, the not-for-profit
support arm of Olana State Historic Site. Olana, the Churches’ Persianinspired home and 250-acre designed landscape, is owned and operated
by New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
See www.olana.org for details.
Kevin J. Avery is a senior research scholar at The Metropolitan Museum
of Art and an adjunct professor at Hunter College, City University of
New York.
— Kevin J. Avery
couple would raise.
erty, Olana, a fortress for the four children the
top citadel to crown his Hudson River prophome later that year, Church started the hillfallen friend, born in Rome in 1869. Arriving
Winthrop Church, the namesake of the artist’s
ceived young Frederic’s brother, Theodore
they were leaving there for Europe they conChurches sojourned first in the Holy Land; as
Left: Study for “Under Niagara,”
c. September 1858
Right: Twilight, a Sketch, 1858
This brochure and the accompanying exhibition were made possible in part
by the generous gifts from the following:
Loie and Alex Acevedo
Mr. and Mrs. Brock Ganeles
The Ann and Arthur Grey Foundation
Laura and David Grey
The Lois H. and Charles A.
Miller Jr. Foundation
Chas A. Miller III
Hudson River Valley National
Heritage Area
New York Press & Graphics
brought together for the exhibition, allowing
for an unprecedented opportunity to view
them hanging side by side. This unique dis-
The New York State Council on the Arts
Museum Program
Henry and Sharon Martin
The Olana Exhibition Fund
Questroyal Fine Art
Gary Schiro and Robert Burns
Richard T. Sharp
TD Bank
Verdigris Art & Tea
Susan Winokur and Paul Leach
Questroyal Fine Art, llc
tion and Public Affairs Nelson Sterner and
Executive Assistant Mary Curran. The exhi-
lley Nationa
l
Va
eA
ritag rea
He
play will result in a focused discussion of this
dson Riv
Hu
er
very gifted young artist who has yet to be the
Study for “The Heart of the Andes,” 1858
bition is greatly enriched by generous loans
from the private collections of Anonymous
subject of extensive study. The examination
nership, the not-for-profit support arm of
who gave their life in the conflict.
The exhibition is funded by The Olana Part-
one of the countless, faceless young men
Acknowledgements
of Jameson is also a poignant case-study of
org for details.
Sharp. For their assistance with these loans
chester. We are grateful to the New York State
we would like to express our appreciation to
Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Pres-
Patricia Everett, Laura and David Grey, Betty
ervation Peebles Island Resource Center staff:
Krulik, Loie and Alex Acevedo, and Frederic
Collections Manager Anne Ricard Cassidy and
For their advice, support, and encourage-
Conservator Eric Price; Former Paintings
W. Lapham III.
her staff Ronna Dixson and Mary Zaremski;
Paper Conservator Michele Phillips; Frames
drew M. Cuomo; New York State Office of
Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
Curatorial Advisory Committee. We hope
Conservator Sarah Stevens, and Photogra-
that this brochure will serve to enlighten
pher Richard Claus.
readers about the collections at Olana as well
as Church’s artistic career and those of his
We are also grateful to The Olana Partnership’s Curator Evelyn D. Trebilcock and Associate Curator Valerie A. Balint for organizing
the exhibition, Archivist/Librarian Ida Brier
Theodore Winthrop, Life in the Open Air
and Other Papers, 1863 (Boston: Ticknor
& Fields), OL.1984.147
Frederic Edwin Church, Two Sketches
for “Rainy Season in the Tropics,” c.
January 1863–1866, OL.1985.1003
Frederic Edwin Church, Cotopaxi and
Sincholagua, June 26, 1857, OL.1977.136
Frederic Edwin Church, Mount Chimborazo, 1865, OL.1980.1881
Frederic Edwin Church, Study for “Under
Niagara,” c. September 1858, OL.1981.51
Frederic Edwin Church, Study for “The
Heart of the Andes,” 1858, OL.1981.47
Frederic Edwin Church, Twilight, a
Sketch, 1858, OL.1981.8
The Olana Partnership and
Supporting Olana
Founded in 1971 to assist and support New
York State in the restoration and preservation
of Olana, The Olana Partnership supports
the conservation, preservation, development
and improvement of the Olana State Historic
Site, which is open to the public throughout
the year. We rely on a number of supportand public sector sources—to fund our work
for the enhancement of Olana and its integral
viewshed, to sponsor educational programs,
and to foster scholarly research. Your donation will make a real difference and enable
others to enjoy Olana both now and into the
future. For more information on how you can
NY 12534 or visit us at www.olana.org.
sible without a significant donation by New
The Olana Partnership. PO Box 199, Hudson,
hibition closes. It would not have been pos-
help, please contact The Development Office,
friends during the Civil War long after the ex-
York Press & Graphics. We thank Dr. Kevin J.
for her research and curatorial interns Nina
Heath and Julianna White for their assistance. We thank Vice President for Development Robert Burns; Director of Administra-
the Rip Van Winkle Bridge. Grounds are open
thoughtful editing and proofreading.
5720 Route 9G in Hudson, NY, just south of
edge Elaine Koss and Lory Frankel for their
Visiting Olana
Avery for his wonderful essay and acknowl-
daily from 8 am until sunset, guided tours are
Isaac Hayes, Church’s Peak, Arctic
Regions, 1860, OL.1980.1894
John S. Jameson, Landscape, c. 1860,
OL.1980.1920
Frederic Edwin Church, Aurora Borealis,
c. 1865-66, OL.1980.1879
Frederic Edwin Church, Cotopaxi
Erupting. Six Sketches, June 26, 1857,
OL.1977.131
ers—individuals, foundations, companies,
ment of the exhibition and the accompanying
Conservator Joyce Zucker, Painting Conser-
publication, we want to recognize the Olana
vator Mary Beteljewski; Associate Textile
We recognize the support of Governor An-
Broadside for The North, 1862,
OL.1986.146
Broadside for Our Banner in the Sky,
1861, OL.1986.142
Frederic Edwin Church, Study for “The
Icebergs,” 1860, OL.1977.145
(two), Laura and David Grey, and Richard T.
Interpretative Program Assistant Carri Man-
Olana State Historic Site. Olana, the Churches’ Persian-inspired home and 250-acre designed landscape, is owned and operated by
New York State Office of Parks, Recreation
and Historic Preservation. See www.olana.
nificant joint effort on the part of The Olana
Partnership and the New York State Office of
Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
John S. Jameson, A StormSummer Afternoon, 1862,
Richard T. Sharp Collection.
Commissioner Rose Harvey; Director of the Division for Historic
Richard T. Sharp, Chairman
Preservation Ruth Pierpont; Acting Director of the Bureau of Historic Sites John Lovell; Acting
Regional Director, Taconic Region
Garrett Jobson; Olana Site Manager Linda McLean; and Olana
Exhibition Check List
Frederic Edwin Church, Steamer in
Northern Waters, c. 1861, OL.1980.1330
Frederic Edwin Church, Iceberg
and Steamship, 1893, OL.1980.1578
Goupil & Co., after Frederic Edwin
Church, Our Banner in the Sky, 1861,
OL.1976.29
Louis LeGrand Noble, After Icebergs with a Painter: A Summer
Voyage to Labrador and Around
Newfoundland, 1861 (New York:
D Appleton & Co.), OL.1986.2 and
OL.1985.834
Horace Wolcott Robbins, Sketch of Trees
and Mountains, c. 1877, OL.1983.925
John S. Jameson, Saranac Waters, 1863, Private Collection
John S. Jameson, Saranac Lake,
1861, Laura and David Grey
Collection
John S. Jameson, A StormSummer Afternoon, 1862,
Richard T. Sharp Collection.
John S. Jameson, Mountain
Landscape, 1860, Richard T. Sharp
Collection
John S. Jameson, untitled, 1861,
Private Collection
Theodore J. Holmes, A Memorial: John S. Jameson, c. 1867,
OL.1984.116
available Tuesday - Sunday and holiday Mon-
Design: Pen & Ink Creative
Charles Risdon, after Frederic Edwin Church’s
The Icebergs (1861), 1864, oil over chromolithograph
Goupil & Co. after Frederic Edwin Church, Our Banner in the Sky, 1861, oil over chromolithograph, 7 ½ x 11 ¼ inches OL.1976.29
expensive landscape paintings, precluded
parting in a corner to reveal a starry firma-
great trip abroad. With Scripture in hand, the
Jameson completed very few canvases dur-
tic near the Arctic Circle to sketch icebergs,
tures and effects, he could not insulate himums of San Francisco), with its providential
Remarks on the Exhibition
tives, and financiers who bought his large
Southern resistance and Northern irresolu-
ing his brief life, cut short by imprisonment
a boat and journeyed to the north Atlan-
renderings of dread and smiling natural fea-
composed of parallel bars of scarlet clouds,
their infant son, Frederic, on the artist’s last
2011 marks the Sesquicentennial of the fall
manufacturers, merchants, railroad execu-
in the Tropics (1863–66; The Fine Arts Museand death in Andersonville Prison. There are
he found at the Equator, in 1859 Church hired
Whatever Church intended to convey in those
looked increasingly dark as unexpected
of Fort Sumter and the start of the Civil War.
ambitions, not unlike those of the wealthy
a celestial vision of a miraculous Union flag
Europe and the Middle East with Isabel and
Olana’s exhibition: Rally ‘Round the Flag:
painting. Not content with the natural variety
pose the landscape in Aurora Borealis.
jungle like an angelic cloud; Rainy Season
only a few recognized works known today,
for his prospective family. His art-business
serted his employ to join the cause, which
including Landscape in the Olana collection.
Hudson River, on which to build a cottage
flocked to see the dramatically framed and lit
and Stripes. Weeks later Church dashed off
Hartford, months before Church departed for
Frederic Edwin Church and the Civil War on
New York premier of the work, 12,000 people
Dr. Isaac Hayes, which Church used to comby the Arctic explorer (and a Church pupil),
massive Andean summit floating above the
The remaining paintings are in private collec-
had just purchased farm property along the
1862. Many of Church’s own farmhands de-
view in the Evelyn and Maurice Sharp Gallery
before, to the beautiful Isabel Carnes. He
study is included in this exhibition. At the
aloft and indignant crowds waved the Stars
ary 1867, his beloved sister Charlotte died in
tions, and not usually available for viewing
of Art, New York), whose small preparatory
omens of victory. Displayed here is a drawing
tanical Gardens, San Marino, California), of a
is one of the first exhibitions in the multi-year,
Church was married, and only since the year
in 1857, abandoned the Union for England in
by the public. All the paintings have been
the Andes (1859; The Metropolitan Museum
were sometimes interpreted by both sides as
the battle-worn Sumter banner was raised
landscapes, present in this gallery. In Janu-
regional and national commemoration of
and other of the enlistees the painter knew,
Huntington Library, Art Collections and Bo-
the conflict.
snowbound mountains, such as The Heart of
United States of the northern lights, which
Church on his second expedition to Ecuador
The exhibition features Frederic Church’s
for The Heart of the Andes. Unlike Winthrop
was held in New York’s Union Square, where
mother sent the artist one of her son’s early
most patriotic work, Our Banner in the Sky,
monumental vistas of jungle, plain, and
spectacular and southerly occurrences in the
ist’s major pictures: Chimborazo (1862–64;
a sensational sunrise resembling a Union
and later published a descriptive program
Rémy Mignot, a South Carolinian who joined
flag which the artist created in the first weeks
in his studio in New York City, he fashioned
painted following several years of the most
render went up. In reaction, a massive rally
camp at Andersonville, Georgia. Jameson’s
of the war. During the next five years, as the
excursion he made with Church to Maine
1863, and with it the complexion of the art-
Civil War raged on, Church produced some
boldt’s trail in Colombia and Ecuador. Back
Bethel, Virginia). His artist colleague Louis
of his most important works. Many reflected
account, displayed here, of a long sketching
by shell fire even after the white cloth of sur-
died in the notorious Confederate prison
the turbulence of the war. The varied artistic
In 1853 and 1857, Church followed Hum-
Union after the Battle of Gettysburg in July
source material for these epic paintings re-
dore Winthrop, who had penned a colorful
the war’s first major land engagement (Big
Rally ‘round the Flag: Frederic Edwin Church
World at the turn of the nineteenth century.
stoked by the insult to the nation’s flag, torn
and studio neighbor who enlisted in 1864,
mains at Olana in the artist’s own collection.
the ardent young author and attorney Theo-
of the war began turning decisively for the
and the Civil War is the third annual exhibi-
ralist who had explored the equatorial New
His dear friend and advocate Winthrop fell in
These rarely seen oil and pencil sketches poi-
friends and acquaintances, most especially
federate assault on Fort Sumter had been
John S. Jameson, a young artist, musician,
tion in the Evelyn and Maurice Sharp Gallery
Alexander von Humboldt, a German natu-
girl, Herbert and Emma. Moreover, the tide
gnantly tell the story of Church’s career from
Among them were several of the painter’s
that may be subtly manifest in his paintings.
at Olana. This exhibition represents a sig-
School, then as a devotee of the writings of
Church ever made. Union outrage at the Con-
in 1865, he learned that a former acolyte,
1861 to 1866.
Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Virginia.
1862 and 1864 by the births of a boy and a
surrender in Virginia on April 9. Three weeks
The devastating affect of the war is also relat-
Cole, the founding figure of the Hudson River
lithograph of The Icebergs on view here.
he suffered war-related losses and privations
seen here.
ed through a retrospective of Church’s friend
harbor, where boats and trains bore them to
war coincided with the richest and most suc-
what must be the most topical “landscape”
their children, victims of diphtheria. Later
assassinated just days after the Confederate
Together these two institutions are working
first as the prodigious student of Thomas
duced in black and white or color, such as the
Church’s early married life, marked in late
ing of their slain president, Abraham Lincoln,
former and drawings related to the latter are
and fellow artist, John S. Jameson (1842-
rade before cheering crowds down to the
Church began having his major works repro-
flict, the one it fought with itself. Oddly, the
sure, if the artist did not literally join the fight,
families paid with lost kinsmen—to say noth-
dorean volcano in eruption. A sketch of the
to preserve and restore Olana.
vated inborn sympathies for art and science,
commencement of America’s bloodiest con-
The war fever of those weeks also prompted
earlier, Church and his wife had buried both
(1862; Detroit Institute of Arts), of the Ecua-
1864) a brilliant and little recognized Hud-
newly mustered regiments tramped in palas Museum of Art). To augment his business,
The Civil War years also coincided with
for the lithograph is also on view.
son River School artist and Civil War soldier.
man in Hartford, Connecticut, Church cultijunction with the 150th anniversary of the
eter of the conflict’s lows and highs. To be
briskly in the months to come. The broadside
troops strode past Church’s exhibition venue,
Sara Johns Griffen, President
side the exhibition gallery on Broadway,
and dubbed, simply, The Icebergs (1861; Dal-
paintings can read expressively as a baromthe Sky. Yet his subsequent major landscape
thing so baldly patriotic as Our Banner in
entrepreneurial spirit—were raised. As the
128th Regiment New York Battle
Flag, New York State Military
Museum and Veterans Research
Center, NYS Division of Military
and Naval Affairs, Saratoga
Springs, New York
Born into the family of an affluent business-
engagement with the war effort. Just out-
and the Civil War has been mounted in con-
breadwinners.
tion of all gate receipts to the Patriotic Fund,
a private collector, did Church venture anyof lithographs, one shown here, which sold
Charles Risdon, after Frederic
Edwin Church’s The Icebergs
(1861), 1864, oil over chromolithograph, OL.1988.744
April 1861 marked the beginning of Church’s
The New York showing of The Icebergs in
which he rendered on another vast canvas
The Evelyn and Maurice Sharp Gallery • Olana | Hudson NY
advertisements began announcing the dona-
Only once more, for a special request from
tled Our Banner in the Sky, made into scores
conscience, Calvinist piety—and perhaps his
John S. Jameson , Saranac Lake, 1861,
Laura and David Grey Collection
painter, Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900).
century America’s most renowned landscape
cessful phase of the career of nineteenthRally ‘round the Flag: Frederic Edwin Church
newly founded to aid families of the enlisted
May 26 -October 30, 2011
North—a clear allusion to the Union—and its
its title changed from The Icebergs to The
Frederic Edwin Church and the Civil War
Rally ‘round the Flag:
military service. Nonetheless, the painter’s
days from 10 am to 4 pm.
(518) 828-0135 • www.olana.org
Unless otherwise noted images are by Frederic Edwin Church and
courtesy of New York State Office of Parks Recreation and Historic
Preservation.