Join Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Victoria Johnson and American Ancestors Curator of Fine Art Curt DiCamillo to explore the life and work of Frederic Church, the great nineteenth-century American artist. Glorious Country reveals how Church’s stunning paintings of remote lands and seas thrilled American audiences and put the young republic on the map of world culture. 

This special joint program of our Art & Architecture and American Inspiration author series features acclaimed author Victoria Johnson and her new sweeping, richly researched biography. Glorious Country brings to life the New York-based artist Frederic Church, a cultural force whose broadly themed works gave shape to the societal and political crosscurrents of nineteenth-century America. His large-scale paintings set in the natural world brought the world to America, and America into the world. Through a close examination of Church’s letters, sketches, paintings, and diaries and her worldwide travels, Johnson traces the path of this astonishing adventurer and artist—a master innovator who turned his landscape paintings into a portrait of a nation. Don’t miss Victorian Johnson’s presentation and conversation with Curt DiCamillo.

Victoria Johnson is a writer and professor of urban policy and planning at Hunter College in New York City, where she teaches the history of philanthropy, nonprofits, and New York City. She is the author of American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic, which was a finalist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction, the Pulitzer Prize for History, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Biography. The book was also a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and was shortlisted for the Cundill History Prize. Johnson holds a doctorate in sociology from Columbia University, as well as an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Yale.

Curt DiCamillo is an internationally recognized authority on English country houses and the decorative arts. He has written, lectured, and taught in the U.S. and abroad on British history and architecture. He leads exclusive tours to Britain, Europe, and the United States on art, architecture, and history. Curt joined American Ancestors in 2016 as its first Curator of Special Collections and the leader of its Heritage Tour program. He previously worked for The National Trust for Scotland Foundation USA and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.