Frederic Church: A Painter’s Pilgrimage | June 2 – August 26

Frederic Church (1826–1900), one of the leading painters of 19th century America and the Hudson River School, created highly detailed large-scale compositions. He also journeyed around the globe to find fresh inspiration for his pictures. This exhibition is centered on a geographical and thematic shift in Church’s practice from the late 1860s through the following decade. During this time, he traveled to the Middle East, Italy, and Greece to paint historic sites in Egypt, Syria, Jerusalem, Rome, and Athens. Church captured the beauty of this sacred terrain but also explored his own faith and world views.

In Summer 2018, the Wadsworth Atheneum will present Frederic Church: A Painter’s Pilgrimage, an important exhibition that showcases his lesser-known body of work and complements his earlier paintings in the museum’s collection. As a native of Hartford, CT, Church’s early career was shaped by prominent residents such as Elizabeth Hart Jarvis Colt who offered him significant commissions such as The Vale of St. Thomas, Jamaica, in the museum’s collection.

The exhibition is organized by Kenneth J. Myers, curator of American art at the Detroit Institute of Arts and will be accompanied by a major catalogue.

About The Wadsworth

The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art is the oldest continuously-operating public art museum in the United States, founded in 1842 by arts patron Daniel Wadsworth.

Since opening its doors to the public in 1844, the Wadsworth Atheneum has paved the way for encyclopedic museums across the country, and has a rich legacy of Firsts. It was the first museum in America to purchase works by Caravaggio, Frederic Church, Joseph Cornell, Salvador Dalí, and Joan Miró, and was the first in the country to exhibit major surveys of works by Italian Baroque masters, Surrealists, and Picasso.

Progressing Daniel Wadsworth’s vision, the museum’s collection has grown to hold approximately 50,000 works of art that span 5,000 years. Highlights include the Morgan collection of Greek and Roman antiquities and European decorative arts; world-renowned Baroque and Surrealist paintings; an unsurpassed collection of Hudson River School landscapes; European and American Impressionist paintings; Modernist masterpieces; the Serge Lifar collecton of Ballets Russes drawings and costumes; the George A. Gay collection of prints; the Wallace Nutting collection of American colonial furniture and decorative arts; the Samuel Colt firearms collection; costumes and textiles; African American art and artifacts; and contemporary art.

The Wadsworth Atheneum underwent a major renovation from 2010 through 2015. The $33 million project renewed the museum’s historic structures and added 17 new gallery spaces—nearly 16,000 square feet of exhibition space—to the building’s existing footprint for an improved visitor experience.

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Wadsworth Atheneum | 600 Main Street, Hartford, CT 06103