In 1865, Frederic Church, an avid traveler with a special passion for the tropics, journeyed to Jamaica. This was unlike his previous expeditions, as he and his wife, Isabel, were escaping from intense personal grief: the loss of their two young children. Throwing himself into the exploration and documentation of the island, the renowned artist produced a variety of works ranging from delicate pen sketches of palm trees to oil sketches of the atmospheric Blue Mountains and brilliant sunsets.                            

The trip served Church extremely well in that it afforded him time and activity to heal his emotional wounds.  His time in Jamaica yielded a remarkably large body of preparatory materials—oil sketches, ink, and pencil drawings.  From these, Church created major studio oils; Rainy Season in the Tropics (The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco); The Vale of St. Thomas, Jamaica, 1867 (The Wadsworth Atheneum) and The After Glow, 1867 (Olana Collection).  With these important exceptions, little in his extensive and fine Jamaica portfolio found expression in larger paintings. But, the material from the Jamaica excursion continued throughout his career to inform his many works on tropical subjects. 

The importance of the trip is reflected in the number of studies Church chose to mount, frame, and display at Olana. One of his major Jamaican canvases, The After Glow, 1867, which was originally sold to his parents, later became a major attraction for visitors to his home. The best of the related sketches and paintings from Jamaica comprise the exhibit curated by The Olana Partnership Curator Evelyn D. Trebilcock and Associate Curator Valerie A. Balint

Within Frederic Church’s oeuvre his Jamaica sketches are particularly lovely – studies of sunsets, mountains and foliage. Church wrote of Jamaica: “The scenery is superb – grand Caribbean Sea to Blue Mountain peak which is about 8180 feet in height…I have accomplished a great amount of work – but there is so much to do that I am at a loss to decide day by day- what to paint.”  This exhibit will help explain Church’s working process by exhibiting Sunset Jamaica and the resulting studio work The After Glow together; it will include five works never before exhibited and reveal Church’s interesting use of his photography collection both as an aid-mémoire and as substrate for sketching. 

“The second exhibition in the Sharp Family Gallery, Fern Hunting reflects Olana’s continued commitment to increasing Church scholarship and giving the public access to the collection,” remarked Sara Johns Griffen, president of The Olana Partnership.  “To our knowledge, the work of Frederic Church in Jamaica has never been explored in any exhibition or manuscript.  The breadth of the works from this period in Olana’s collection and the many associations and connections to the artist, his family and the creation of Olana, make this exhibition truly unique and exciting.”

The exhibition is made possible by support from: David B. and Mimi G. Forer, Mr. and Mrs. Brock Ganeles, David G. Kabiller, Stephen and Bindy Kaye, Paul Leach and Susan Winokur Henry and Sharon Martin, The Lois H. and Charles A. Miller Jr. Foundation, Chas A. Miller III, The New York State Council on the Arts Museum Program, Mount Merino Manor, The Olana Exhibition Fund, The Reed Foundation, The Terra Foundation for American Art, Richard T. Sharp, and The Jack Warner Fund for Creativity and Innovation.

A full-color, hardcover catalogue with essays by Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser, Chief Curator and Krieble Curator of American Painting and Sculpture at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art and Katherine E. Manthorne, Professor of Art History, Graduate Center, City University of New York with a foreword by Anthony Johnson, Ambassador to the United States from Jamaica has been co-published by Cornell University Press.  It is available at Olana’s museum store or on line at www.olana.org.

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Olana State Historic Site is located at 5720 Route 9G in Hudson, NY. Grounds are open every day from 8 am until sunset, guided house tours are available Wednesday through Sunday from 10 am to 4 pm and The Evelyn and Maurice Sharp Gallery is open Thursday through Sunday and holiday Mondays from 11 am to 4 pm. Telephone: (518) 828-0135 website: www.olana.org. 

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