All the Raj -Frederic Church and Lockwood de Forest; Painting, Decorating and Collecting at Olana,  an exhibition featuring oil sketches and decorative arts by landscape painter and 19th century tastemaker Lockwood de Forest, will open at Olana, the historic home and studio of Frederic Church, on Sunday May 11, 2014.  Lockwood de Forest (1850-1932) studied painting with the eminent landscape artist Frederic Church in the 1870s; the exhibition will begin by highlighting sketches showing that the two artists worked side by side at Olana.  At that time, Church was busy designing and building the main house, and the young de Forest watched Church draw inspiration from books on Persian and other exotic architecture.  In the 1880s de Forest traveled to India to start a decorating business providing beautiful Indian and Kashmiri decorative objects to an American audience.  De Forest provided Church with carved teak for fireplace mantels, exquisite painted furniture from Kashmir, expertly engraved brass trays and a variety of other lavish Indian objects.  The exhibitionwill be on view through November 2, 2014.

All the Raj -Frederic Church and Lockwood de Forest; Painting, Decorating and Collecting at Olana highlights 12 sketches and paintings by de Forest, some from his time as Church’s pupil and others capturing his adventures in India.  One de Forest sketch is paired with a Church sketch of the same view, a late day cloud effect, showing the teacher and pupil working side by side at Olana.  De Forest’s sketch book of their 1877 trip to Maine will be open to a lovely ink rendering of Mount Katahdin.  Also shown is an oil of the Niagara River above the falls which depicts a view probably suggested by the veteran artist.  

A selection of the decorative arts collected by Church includes a beautifully hand painted Kashmiri chair de Forest designed for Olana, an intricately carved Blackwood chair, and a lovely 19th century ceramic bowl.  The collaboration between Church and de Forest is further illustrated with Church’s sketch for the dining room fireplace that de Forest referenced to create the finished mantel in his workshop in Ahmedabad.  De Forest’s sensational painting of the houses on the bank of the Nile in a carved teak frame from his workshops in Ahmedabad, combines both his artistic skill as a painter and as a designer.

Organized by The Olana Partnership working with guest curator, professor of art history Dr. Roberta Mayer, and presented by The Olana Partnership and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, All the Raj will be on view in the Evelyn and Maurice Sharp Gallery at Olana from May 11 through November 2, 2014. Olana is located at 5720 Route 9G in Hudson, NY. The grounds are open every day from 8 a.m. until sunset; guided house tours (reservations recommended) are available Tuesday through Sunday and holiday Mondays, May through October from 10 am – 5 pm, and include access to the Evelyn and Maurice Sharp Gallery; the last tour starts promptly at 4:00 p.m.  For reservations and information call (518) 828-0135 or visit www.olana.org.

About Dr. Roberta Mayer, Guest Curator

The premier authority on de Forest, Dr. Mayer is an art historian and professor at Bucks County Community College.   For the exhibition at Olana, Dr. Mayer wrote a short essay for an illustrated, color-brochure which will be available for visitors, drawing upon her seminal publication Lockwood de Forest: Furnishing the Gilded Age with A Passion for India (2008),  In 2009 she received the Decorative Arts Monograph Award for this publication from the Metropolitan Chapter of the Victorian Society of America.  Her article Lockwood and Meta de Forest in India, Kashmir and Nepal appears in the most recent edition of Archives of American Art Journal.  In addition, her articles have appeared in Winterthur Portfolio, Studies in the Decorative Arts and 19th Century.  Dr. Mayercompleted her PhD at the University of Delaware writing her dissertation on de Forest.

About the Olana State Historic Site

The eminent Hudson River School painter Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900) designed Olana, his family home, studio, and estate as an integrated environment embracing architecture, art, and landscape. Considered one of the most important artistic residences in the United States, Olana is a landmark of picturesque landscape gardening with a Persian-inspired house at its summit, embracing unrivaled panoramic views of the vast Hudson Valley.

Olana State Historic Site, an historic site administered by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, Taconic Region, is a designated National Historic Landmark and one of the most visited sites in the state. The Olana Partnership, a private not-for-profit education corporation, works cooperatively with New York State to support the restoration, development and improvement of Olana State Historic Site. To learn more about Olana, please visit www.olana.org.