10/30/2026
“I climbed Andean volcanoes in his footsteps, and his stamina and courage amazed me as I traveled under far more comfortable conditions than those he endured,” said Victoria Johnson, professor at Hunter College and author of American Eden, “ I found myself in a lightning storm, and we were so high that the lightning was crackling sideways around us. This terrifying experience, fortunately, was useful for my book, because it taught me something important about Church. One can feel most physically and spiritually alive when faced with nature's titanic scale and power. And that is what Church put into his paintings. The impulses that drove Church to create them, including his three-dimensional masterpiece, Olana, represent the very best of our complicated history as a nation.” Johnson spent six years researching Church’s life, retracing his journeys for her new biography, Glorious Country.
Last week, LongHouse held a Larsen Salon celebrating the bicentennial of American landscape painter Frederic Church. Victoria Johnson, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist, discussed her recently published biography, Glorious Country at the offices of Robert A.M. Stern Architects in New York.
The Larsen Salon Series continues the vision of LongHouse Founder Jack Lenor Larsen to make art accessible and encourage public engagement with art, architecture, and design. “Olana, Church's home on the Hudson, and Jack Lenor Larsen's LongHouse in East Hampton, while they originate roughly 100 years apart, share DNA,” added Esperanza Leon, Director of Education and Community Engagement at LongHouse, “Both are total works of art created by American creative visionaries who integrated art, architecture, landscape, and global cultures into their personal living spaces. Both preserve artistic legacies and serve to awe and inspire visitors from around the world.”
LongHouse is pleased to have joined The Olana Partnership and other organizations in celebrating Frederic Church’s 200th this year with this special presentation on Glorious Country by Victoria Johnson.
