Composing Olana: A Journey on Foot Through Frederic Church’s Greatest Work of Art

The first and only book devoted to the landscape Frederic Church designed at Olana - what he considered his greatest work of art - timed to coincide with the bicentennial of his birthModelled on her acclaimed On the High Line (now in its third edition from Fordham University Press), Composing Olana unfolds as a series of walks along the seven carriage roads Frederic Edwin Church built here in 1860s-1880s.Along the way, LaFarge unpacks the history of everything we see, and much that we don’t, in the greater landscape, from the Ice Age geology that created it to the artists and conservationists who preserved it.We learn about lesser-known women painters of the Hudson River School; the Native Peoples who lived here before the Europeans arrived; and the mentorship of Church’s only teacher, Thomas Cole. Archival letters, diaries, and historic accounts reveal Church’s vital role in preserving Niagara Falls; his contributions to Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and his engagem