An Artist's Photograph Collection

Abstract Olana, the extraordinary private home of American painter Frederic Church, perches high above the Hudson River, with commanding views of the Catskill Mountains and the verdant countryside, approximately 120 miles north of New York City (figure 1). Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900), the internationally recognized painter of exotic locales and the North American landscape, lived much of his adult life at Olana, and it was here he retreated when arthritis curtailed his passion for world travel. Designed by architect Calvert Vaux in a Persian style, but in large measure created by Church, the house is architecturally eclectic, an exuberant physical manifestation of the artist's interests, beliefS and travels. Olana is also home to Church's personal collections offine art, books and photographs. Church assembled at Olana an art collection of fifty pieces (including old master paintings, art by his friends and contemporaries, as well as work of his own), a library of 1900 volumes (mainly travel, geogra...