Arts & Leisure
A look at Frederic Edwin Church's personal treasure chest at PMA
By Rose Safran
PORTLAND - A few years ago, I visited Olana State Historic Site, a National Historic Landmark located a few miles south of Hudson, N.Y.The exotic Persian-style villa, a unique, complex structure on a hilltop dominating 250 acres of planned parkland, manmade lake, roads system, gardens and affording panoramic views of the Hudson River and distant Catskill Mountains, was created by the renowned 19th-century Hudson River School painter Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900).
In his lifetime, Olana (Arabic for treasure storehouse) became Church's "center of the world," a glorious place for family, a quiet haven from the pressures of city life, a respite from extensive travel as well as a major creative project challenging the multiplicity of his talents, extending them to architectural concept (working with masters) and interior space design elements, artifacts and furnishings. A work of art unto itself resulted. Olana is reportedly one of the most important artistic residences in the world; today, its interior, which is intact, i.e., left as the artist planned it, is considered an important example of early Aesthetic Movement.
The entire house, exterior design as well as interior wall décor and furniture and its carefully planned setting reflect the man - his attention to detail, complexities, collection proclivities, extensive travel, enthusiasm for the Middle East, love of nature.
Visiting this paradise, one is overwhelmed by setting, building (think Mrs. Gardner's Boston palace) and interior curiosities, many from the Middle East, others from South America, Mexico and Europe - with the result that choice Church paintings on view, especially the small ones in the house, tend to be under-appreciated.
In a museum setting such as offered upstairs in the Portland Museum of Art, the artist's own paintings are freed from the distraction of Olana's intricate interior moldings, columns, banisters, iridescent accents on stenciling of doors, striking textiles including patterned rugs and tapestries, as well as the plethora of assorted artifacts including ceramics, a Buddha, shields, Mexican baskets, iron or steel birds, peacock plumage, swords, etc.
"Treasures from Olana" consists of 18 highlights taken from the artist's vast personal collection of his works; it includes sketches, studies and finished oils normally on view at the site. Leaving Olana for the very first time, these select art works not only reveal the breadth of subjects and places that interested Church, but also give testimony to the artist's technical skill and versatility. Significantly, these choices represent cherished paintings he kept for himself on the walls of his house.
The centerpiece of the exhibition is Olana's most important painting, the massive "El Khasne, Petra," a striking deliberate metaphor for the Eastern architecture inspiring the building. In it, through a cave-like entrance, we see the brilliantly lit sun-struck Jordanian façade brightening up an otherwise dark canvas. In another Petra-inspired work, "The Urn Tomb, Silk Tomb, and Corinthian Tomb, Petra," Church depicts the age-worn buildings as literally carved out of stone, part of the natural rock.
Painting faraway places, many to which few adventured, brought fame to Church. On view are such smaller works as Ecuador's "Mount Chimborazo at Sunset," "The Parthenon and the Acropolis, Athens," "Sunset, Jamaica," a study the famous "The Heart of the Andes" (in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art), "Mexican Forest - a Composition" and "Rainbow near Berchtesgaden, Germany."
The exhibit also includes landscapes of Church's immediate setting and others nearer to home such as a crisp, bright, detailed "The Catskill Creek" with water and reflections in the foreground, a farmhouse in the middle and distant mountains. Landscapes such as "Sunset" and "Twilight, a Sketch" contain atmospheric effects at which Church was a master.
"The Hudson Valley in Winter from Olana" has a clear blue sky with floating clouds rendering cheerful a vast snow-covered terrain - notably, this image suggests the expansive panorama Olana affords. In "Niagara Falls" and "Study for Under Niagara" (the original's location is unknown), the treatment of the watery curtain and resultant misty splash dramatize the cascade experience.
This traveling exhibition will remain at the Portland Museum of Art through Sept. 10, after which it will travel to California's Huntington Library and The Princeton University Art Museum. It has already been seen by visitors to museums in Texas and New York. It's one of those little gems that doesn't get much publicity and therefore suggests discovery for those who wander into it.
This bonus is on the fourth floor at the Portland Museum of Art. Yes, there's an elevator.
