Oak and tile stand by Stickley and Grueby, circa 1900, $105,000.

Paintings by Frederic Edwin Church Move on to Portland, Me.

PORTLAND, ME. – From January 18 through March 18

“: Paintings by Frederic Edwin Church,” organized by the Berry-Hill Gallery, New York, commemorates the centennial of the artist’s death and the memorial Church exhibition held that year at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

“” comprises 44 paintings, most of them lent by museums and private collectors. It features some of the artist’s most memorable and monumental canvases including “Niagara Falls from the American Side” (1867), lent by the National Gallery of Scotland, and “Morning in the Tropics” from the National Gallery of Art. In addition to the large public works, the show covers a range of medium size and small, intimate but equally awe-inspiring pictures, which he created either as studies for the major works or as personal and highly skillful sketches.

Known at first for his ravishing views of domestic scenery, particularly of the Hudson Valley region, Church was a visionary painter who explored far-off places from the Arctic North to the South American tropics to the exotic Near East. His magnificent home and studio overlooking the Hudson, which he called “Olana” – referring to the Latin name of a “treasure-storehouse” in Persia near one of the presumed sites of the earthly Paradise – is one of the architectural wonders of its time and is a melange of the Oriental and Moorish styles that he so admired.

The exhibition has already been seen at Berry-Hill Galleries, New York, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago and the Portland Art Museum, Oregon.

The fully illustrated catalogue accompanying this exhibition features an essay by noted Church expert Dr Gerald L. Carr. The catalogue is available in the museum shop for $50.

An opening night lecture “Light of Science in the Paintings of Frederic Church” will take place on Wednesday, January 17, 5:30 pm. Exhibition curator Dr Gerald Carr, is among the world’s authorities on the work of Frederic Church and the author of one of the most complete catalogues of his work. Carr’s knowledge of the artist spans from his doodles in his schoolboy textbooks and exercise books, to student work done under Thomas Cole, to important paintings exhibited during Church’s lifetime.

The Portland Museum of Art is at Seven Congress Square. The hours are 10 am to 5 pm Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, and 10 am to 9 pm on Thursday and Friday. For information, call 207/773-ARTS or 800/639-4067.