Frederic Church’s Olana on the Hudson: Art, Landscape, Architecture
By edited by Julia B. Rosenbaum and Karen Zukowski, photography by Larry Lederman (Rizzoli, 2018) Buy It NowOlana sits like a golden eagle on a ridge above the Rip Van Winkle Bridge. The masterwork of Hudson River School artist Frederic Church, his wife Isabel, and the architect Calvert Vaux, the Persian-inspired villa, outbuildings, and spectacular landscapes were built in what coeditor Rosenberg calls a “multi-decade, earth-sculpting endeavor,” during which Church’s “paintbox, canvas, and frame converted to actual water, earth, and trees.” Other essays assess the religious impulse behind Church’s work, the heroic restoration of Olana’s buildings and grounds (now a National Historic Site), and other topics; contemporary landscape painter Stephen Hannock and photographer Larry Lederman offer appreciations of Church’s artistic vision. Inspired by his subject, Lederman spent 12 years creating the masterful photos for this gorgeous book.