Afterglow: Frederic Church and The Landscape of Memory

The Landscape of Memory brings together the known memorial paintings by Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900) for the first time, unveiling how Church returned to the medium of landscape throughout his career to create solace in times of loss. This book presents new scholarship on the memorial functions of landscape in 19th-century America through the lens of the distinctive oeuvre of the eraâs foremost landscape painter. The Landscape of Memory examines Churchâs memorial paintings as a group within the context of the periodâs material culture of mourning and sanctuary landscapes such as rural cemeteries to illuminate the iconography and practices Church embraced, both in his paintings and in the creation of his home, Olana, to give voice to loss.

The catalogue essay by Allegra Davis connects the thread of memorialization throughout Churchâs life and career; an additional essay by Rebecca Bedell contextualizes the sentimental and therapeutic aspects of landscape painting and design in 19th-century American art.