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10/22/2026 06:00:00 PM10/22/2026 07:30:00 PMAmerica/New_YorkLarsen Salon | Glorious Country: How the Artist Frederic Church Brought the World to America and America to the WorldPulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Victoria Johnson shares the dramatic and consequential life of the artist Frederic Church, whose footsteps she followed around the globe for her “absorbing” (Ron Chernow) and “thrilling” (Andrea Wulf) 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.
Victoria Johnson is the author of three books, including the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic. She holds a doctorate in sociology from Columbia University and an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Yale. She is Professor of Urban Policy and Planning at Hunter College of the City University of New York.
LongHouse Reserve’s Larsen Salon Series honors Jack Lenor Larsen (1927-2020) and facilitates thought-provoking conversations with designers, architects, and artists working at the intersection of art, architecture, design, and craft.
ACCESSIBILITY
LongHouse Reserve has an Accessibility Coordinator onsite to help assist guests with disabilities. To request accommodations, or with any questions or concerns, please contact our Accessibility Coordinator via email access@longhouse.org, or phone at +1 (631) 329-3568. Please allow for up to seven business days for a response.
Robert A. M. Stern One Park Avenue New York, New York 10016
Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Victoria Johnson shares the dramatic and consequential life of the artist Frederic Church, whose footsteps she followed around the globe for her “absorbing” (Ron Chernow) and “thrilling” (Andrea Wulf) 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.
Victoria Johnson is the author of three books, including the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic. She holds a doctorate in sociology from Columbia University and an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Yale. She is Professor of Urban Policy and Planning at Hunter College of the City University of New York.
LongHouse Reserve’s Larsen Salon Series honors Jack Lenor Larsen (1927-2020) and facilitates thought-provoking conversations with designers, architects, and artists working at the intersection of art, architecture, design, and craft.
ACCESSIBILITY
LongHouse Reserve has an Accessibility Coordinator onsite to help assist guests with disabilities. To request accommodations, or with any questions or concerns, please contact our Accessibility Coordinator via email access@longhouse.org, or phone at +1 (631) 329-3568. Please allow for up to seven business days for a response.
Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Victoria Johnson shares the dramatic and consequential life of the artist Frederic Church, whose footsteps she followed around the globe for her “absorbing” (Ron Chernow) and “thrilling” (Andrea Wulf) 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.
Victoria Johnson is the author of three books, including the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic. She holds a doctorate in sociology from Columbia University and an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Yale. She is Professor of Urban Policy and Planning at Hunter College of the City University of New York.
LongHouse Reserve’s Larsen Salon Series honors Jack Lenor Larsen (1927-2020) and facilitates thought-provoking conversations with designers, architects, and artists working at the intersection of art, architecture, design, and craft.
ACCESSIBILITY
LongHouse Reserve has an Accessibility Coordinator onsite to help assist guests with disabilities. To request accommodations, or with any questions or concerns, please contact our Accessibility Coordinator via email access@longhouse.org, or phone at +1 (631) 329-3568. Please allow for up to seven business days for a response.
Twilight in the Wilderness, by Frederic Church (1860) Credit: Twilight in the Wilderness, 1860, oil on canvas, 40 × 64 in., The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund, 1965.233
Niagara, by Frederic Church (1857) Credit: Niagara, 1857, oil on canvas, 40 × 90 1⁄2 in., The National Gallery of Art, Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund), 2014.79.10
The Heart of the Andes, by Frederic Church (1859) Credit: The Heart of the Andes, 1859, oil on canvas, 66 1⁄8 × 120 3/16 in., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Bequest of Margaret E. Dows, 1909, 09.95
Frederic Church (1844) Credit: Unknown maker, Frederic Church, 1844, daguerreotype, 3 5/8 × 3 1⁄8 in., New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, Olana State Historic Site (OSHS), OL.1992.6
Add to Calendar
10/22/2026 06:00:00 PM10/22/2026 07:30:00 PMAmerica/New_YorkLarsen Salon | Glorious Country: How the Artist Frederic Church Brought the World to America and America to the WorldPulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Victoria Johnson shares the dramatic and consequential life of the artist Frederic Church, whose footsteps she followed around the globe for her “absorbing” (Ron Chernow) and “thrilling” (Andrea Wulf) 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.
Victoria Johnson is the author of three books, including the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic. She holds a doctorate in sociology from Columbia University and an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Yale. She is Professor of Urban Policy and Planning at Hunter College of the City University of New York.
LongHouse Reserve’s Larsen Salon Series honors Jack Lenor Larsen (1927-2020) and facilitates thought-provoking conversations with designers, architects, and artists working at the intersection of art, architecture, design, and craft.
ACCESSIBILITY
LongHouse Reserve has an Accessibility Coordinator onsite to help assist guests with disabilities. To request accommodations, or with any questions or concerns, please contact our Accessibility Coordinator via email access@longhouse.org, or phone at +1 (631) 329-3568. Please allow for up to seven business days for a response.
Robert A. M. Stern One Park Avenue New York, New York 10016
“Glorious Country is a masterpiece. One of America’s best historians delivers an epic biography that illuminates how Frederic Church came to dominate nineteenth-century American painting with his sublime landscapes.” —Douglas Brinkley, author of Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America
“In this absorbing biography of Frederic Church, Victoria Johnson exhibits a special intimacy with the creator of some of the most sublime landscape paintings in American history. She shadows him on his intrepid quests to remote and exotic places…and restores to us the original freshness and wonder of his work.” —Ron Chernow, author of Mark Twain and Alexander Hamilton
“A vivid writer and perceptive researcher, Victoria Johnson illuminate[s] the extraordinary life of a visionary artist, who blended spirituality, science, art, and awe.” —Alan Taylor, author of American Civil Wars and The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia
“A gifted writer who gives us a fresh and thrilling Frederic Church, [Victoria Johnson] paints a portrait of a passionate, adventurous and profoundly talented man whose life is intricately woven together with the story of the American nation…Glorious Country is, well, glorious.” —Andrea Wulf, author of The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World
“In her usual hypnotic manner, Victoria Johnson reanimates the work and life of Frederic Church and transports us to the vistas that inspired him—and which, he evoked so indelibly in his art.” —Harold Holzer, Winner of the Lincoln Prize
“Ambitious, indispensable, and exciting, [Glorious Country] offers a new vital analysis of this artist’s life and career… A major contribution to the scholarship on nineteenth-century American art.” —Elizabeth Kornhauser, Curator Emerita, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
“Victoria Johnson vividly chronicle[s] Church’s life as a public figure, a private individual, [and as] one of this country’s greatest and most important artists.” —Franklin Kelly, Deputy Director and Chief Curator, National Gallery of Art (retired)
“Masterful…Victoria Johnson captures the spirit of the man, his artistic career, and the swirl of personal and political events that shaped his life…[A] must-read for anyone interested in American art.” —Eleanor Harvey, Senior Curator, Smithsonian American Art Museum
