Overlook: Teresita Fernández Confronts Frederic Church at Olana Olana State Historic Site 5720 State Route 9G Hudson, NY 12534 USAAbout the Exhibition The exhibition OVERLOOK: Teresita Fernández Confronts Frederic Church at Olana is a collaboration between The Olana Partnership and the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros [CPPC]. In it, artist Teresita Fernández examines Frederic Church and his contemporaries’ response to the cultures and landscapes they experienced during their 19th century Latin American travels. Visitors will have the opportunity to explore Fernández’s perspective and respond to her provocative installation in Olana’s Sharp Family Gallery.
Working with Guest Curator Sara Meadows from the CPPC, Teresita Fernández incorporates her own new work in a site-specific installation with elements from the collections of Olana State Historic Site and the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros. Combining portraits of indigenous people, dramatic horizon lines, and botanical representations of the natural world, Fernández presents the works through a contemporary lens that prioritizes the individual within the landscape. The artists in the exhibition interpreted their Latin American travels in a range of styles and attitudes. Fernández responds to their interpretations and biases through a conversation about a deeper sense of these varied American cultures, contesting the iconic view of the “American Landscape” painting tradition constructed by Church and his peers that often omitted or erased other narratives and figures.
Fernández thinks about places and landscapes as created by the history of human beings, and subject to change. Her way of thinking effectively inserts the gaze of people who might otherwise be overlooked and extends it to the audiences interacting with this exhibition. In her own practice, Fernández utilizes landscape to create a visual catalyst to prompt our thinking about places and how we imagine them. She challenges established ideas about landscape to discover ways in which our understanding of place is framed by the dominant narrative or culture. Within this broader view, Fernández seeks to also present the American landscape within the plurality of the “Americas” rather than the singular “America”.
OVERLOOK is the largest loan exhibition The Olana Partnership has ever undertaken and includes fifty-five works from the CPPC. The Traveler Artists included in this exhibition are Frederic Church, Martin Johnson Heade, Fritz Melbye, Marianne North, Auguste Morisot, José María Velasco, Alessandro Ciccareli, Frans Jansz Post, Norton Bush, R.N. Captain Seymour, Anton Goering and Robert Ker Porter.
Four works from the Olana collection will be on view for the first time, including three by Fritz Melbye, who completed one work during a Latin American trip with Frederic Church. Another work is attributed to Marianne North, a close friend of Frederic Church and the artist who inspired Fernández’s installation during her first visit to Olana. Ms. Fernández created 18 new works specifically for this installation at Olana. In addition, five masterworks on loan from the CPPC will be on view throughout Olana’s main house.Jesús Soto, Penetrable OVERLOOK will also feature a signature work from CPPC’s Modern art collection. After travelling throughout the Americas, and coming directly to Olana at the conclusion of a long-term loan to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Penetrable by the late Venezuelan artist Jesús Rafael Soto will be sited outdoors in Olana’s historic landscape. This marks the first time Soto’s immensely popular interactive sculpture will be experienced by the public in a naturalistic setting, and it’s the first time it will be seen on the East Coast.Public Programs
Katherine Manthorne on Landscapes Across the Americas
Saturday, May 20, 2017, 4pm
Olana Wagon House Education Center
In the 19th century, European and North American traveler artists illustrated narratives of their explorations, and in this talk we look closely at travels in Latin America. Katherine Manthorne, Ph.D, professor at CUNY Graduate Center and a specialist in landscape art, will discuss Frederic Church and her book, Traveler Artists: Landscapes of Latin America from the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros. Illustrated lecture followed by Q&A and an abridged tour of the exhibition OVERLOOK. Refreshments will be served.
Traveling Talks: The Science Behind the Traveler Artist
Saturday, May 27, 2017, 4pm
Olana Wagon House Education Center
Lloyd Ackert, Ph.D, Professor in History of Science at Drexel University, will present the ways in which artists were inspired and informed by travel and the developing “natural sciences” in the 19th century. Dr. Ackert will lead us to ponder how ideas in the sciences informed art-making and vice versa and specifically how French anthropologist Jean Chaffanjon employed Auguste Morisot, how Alexander von Humboldt inspired Frederic Church, and how Charles Darwin influenced Marianne North. Illustrated lecture followed by Q&A and an abridged tour of the main house. Refreshments will be served.
Harper Montgomery on Reading Teresita Fernández's Art
Saturday, June 3, 2017, 4pm
Olana Wagon House Education Center
Join Harper Montgomery, Ph.D, Distinguished Lecturer and Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Professor in Latin American Art at Hunter College, for a lecture and discussion about Teresita Fernández. Montgomery will focus on avant-gardism, social activism, institutions, and cross-cultural conditions for making and displaying art. She is a specialist in modern and contemporary Latin American art with focuses on Argentina, Cuba, Mexico, and the Latino U.S. during the early twentieth-century and the contemporary movement. Illustrated lecture followed by Q&A and an abridged tour of the exhibition OVERLOOK. Refreshments will be served.
Luis Pérez-Oramas on Landscape and Jesús Rafael Soto
Saturday, October 14, 2017, 4pm
Olana Wagon House Education Center
Olana and the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros are in dialogue this season as we continue to explore the ways in which 19th century landscape art inspired contemporary art in the Americas. Join Luis Pérez-Oramas, Ph.D, The Estrellita Brodsky Curator of Latin American Art at The Museum of Modern Art in NY to learn more about artist Jesús Rafael Soto, whose work Penetrabe, part of the CPPC collections, is installed on the grounds of Olana this season. Soto was a Venezuelan kinetic artist inspired by landscape, perception and interactivity with his viewers. Illustrated lecture followed by Q&A and an abridged tour of the exhibition OVERLOOK. Refreshments will be served.
Title:
Overlook: Teresita Fernández Confronts Frederic Church at Olana
Date:
May 14, 2017 - November 5, 2017
Title:
Overlook: Teresita Fernández Confronts Frederic Church at Olana
Date:
May 14, 2017 - November 5, 2017
Overlook: Teresita Fernández Confronts Frederic Church at Olana Olana State Historic Site 5720 State Route 9G Hudson, NY 12534 USAAbout the Exhibition The exhibition OVERLOOK: Teresita Fernández Confronts Frederic Church at Olana is a collaboration between The Olana Partnership and the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros [CPPC]. In it, artist Teresita Fernández examines Frederic Church and his contemporaries’ response to the cultures and landscapes they experienced during their 19th century Latin American travels. Visitors will have the opportunity to explore Fernández’s perspective and respond to her provocative installation in Olana’s Sharp Family Gallery.
Working with Guest Curator Sara Meadows from the CPPC, Teresita Fernández incorporates her own new work in a site-specific installation with elements from the collections of Olana State Historic Site and the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros. Combining portraits of indigenous people, dramatic horizon lines, and botanical representations of the natural world, Fernández presents the works through a contemporary lens that prioritizes the individual within the landscape. The artists in the exhibition interpreted their Latin American travels in a range of styles and attitudes. Fernández responds to their interpretations and biases through a conversation about a deeper sense of these varied American cultures, contesting the iconic view of the “American Landscape” painting tradition constructed by Church and his peers that often omitted or erased other narratives and figures.
Fernández thinks about places and landscapes as created by the history of human beings, and subject to change. Her way of thinking effectively inserts the gaze of people who might otherwise be overlooked and extends it to the audiences interacting with this exhibition. In her own practice, Fernández utilizes landscape to create a visual catalyst to prompt our thinking about places and how we imagine them. She challenges established ideas about landscape to discover ways in which our understanding of place is framed by the dominant narrative or culture. Within this broader view, Fernández seeks to also present the American landscape within the plurality of the “Americas” rather than the singular “America”.
OVERLOOK is the largest loan exhibition The Olana Partnership has ever undertaken and includes fifty-five works from the CPPC. The Traveler Artists included in this exhibition are Frederic Church, Martin Johnson Heade, Fritz Melbye, Marianne North, Auguste Morisot, José María Velasco, Alessandro Ciccareli, Frans Jansz Post, Norton Bush, R.N. Captain Seymour, Anton Goering and Robert Ker Porter.
Four works from the Olana collection will be on view for the first time, including three by Fritz Melbye, who completed one work during a Latin American trip with Frederic Church. Another work is attributed to Marianne North, a close friend of Frederic Church and the artist who inspired Fernández’s installation during her first visit to Olana. Ms. Fernández created 18 new works specifically for this installation at Olana. In addition, five masterworks on loan from the CPPC will be on view throughout Olana’s main house.Jesús Soto, Penetrable OVERLOOK will also feature a signature work from CPPC’s Modern art collection. After travelling throughout the Americas, and coming directly to Olana at the conclusion of a long-term loan to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Penetrable by the late Venezuelan artist Jesús Rafael Soto will be sited outdoors in Olana’s historic landscape. This marks the first time Soto’s immensely popular interactive sculpture will be experienced by the public in a naturalistic setting, and it’s the first time it will be seen on the East Coast.Public Programs
Katherine Manthorne on Landscapes Across the Americas
Saturday, May 20, 2017, 4pm
Olana Wagon House Education Center
In the 19th century, European and North American traveler artists illustrated narratives of their explorations, and in this talk we look closely at travels in Latin America. Katherine Manthorne, Ph.D, professor at CUNY Graduate Center and a specialist in landscape art, will discuss Frederic Church and her book, Traveler Artists: Landscapes of Latin America from the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros. Illustrated lecture followed by Q&A and an abridged tour of the exhibition OVERLOOK. Refreshments will be served.
Traveling Talks: The Science Behind the Traveler Artist
Saturday, May 27, 2017, 4pm
Olana Wagon House Education Center
Lloyd Ackert, Ph.D, Professor in History of Science at Drexel University, will present the ways in which artists were inspired and informed by travel and the developing “natural sciences” in the 19th century. Dr. Ackert will lead us to ponder how ideas in the sciences informed art-making and vice versa and specifically how French anthropologist Jean Chaffanjon employed Auguste Morisot, how Alexander von Humboldt inspired Frederic Church, and how Charles Darwin influenced Marianne North. Illustrated lecture followed by Q&A and an abridged tour of the main house. Refreshments will be served.
Harper Montgomery on Reading Teresita Fernández's Art
Saturday, June 3, 2017, 4pm
Olana Wagon House Education Center
Join Harper Montgomery, Ph.D, Distinguished Lecturer and Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Professor in Latin American Art at Hunter College, for a lecture and discussion about Teresita Fernández. Montgomery will focus on avant-gardism, social activism, institutions, and cross-cultural conditions for making and displaying art. She is a specialist in modern and contemporary Latin American art with focuses on Argentina, Cuba, Mexico, and the Latino U.S. during the early twentieth-century and the contemporary movement. Illustrated lecture followed by Q&A and an abridged tour of the exhibition OVERLOOK. Refreshments will be served.
Luis Pérez-Oramas on Landscape and Jesús Rafael Soto
Saturday, October 14, 2017, 4pm
Olana Wagon House Education Center
Olana and the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros are in dialogue this season as we continue to explore the ways in which 19th century landscape art inspired contemporary art in the Americas. Join Luis Pérez-Oramas, Ph.D, The Estrellita Brodsky Curator of Latin American Art at The Museum of Modern Art in NY to learn more about artist Jesús Rafael Soto, whose work Penetrabe, part of the CPPC collections, is installed on the grounds of Olana this season. Soto was a Venezuelan kinetic artist inspired by landscape, perception and interactivity with his viewers. Illustrated lecture followed by Q&A and an abridged tour of the exhibition OVERLOOK. Refreshments will be served.
