Frederic Edwin Church .... Dreamy Landscapes

The works of one of the very best of American painters, are to be found on the 2nd level of the American Art Museum in Washington, DC.

The generous country of the United States of America has free admission to almost every museum, gallery and monument.  Not like how  France, Italy, Canada and others milk visitors and citizens alike for stepping inside their  museums. Canada's museums are sadly wanting but yet one has to pay hefty sums to walk inside them. What a shame.

Isn't it strange that the governments of  these same countries  who put a toll on their citizens to get a bit of  education in the Arts are at the same time of  the opinion that large amounts of funds should be directed to the supposedly "third world" countries for the education of the masses there while their own citizens can remain blissfully dumb?

Another thing worth noting while I am at it, is this:  I did not see a single piece in any of the museums and galleries that we visited in Washington, DC and the vicinity of it,  that did not have a description of the item and the original owner it was obtained from and whether it was a donation or not.  Not like the museums in the United Kingdom, France and Italy.  All three have robbed blind the countries they used to occupy and the treasures they display in their museums are treasures they have plundered from India, Egypt, Damascus, Greece, Nepal, China, Tibet and several other countries where the invaders and their explorers took advantage of the native population to deprive them of their artwork and thus part of their heritage.

The French have even carted two huge pillars weighing probably several tonnes each  from one of the Middle East countries they were in control of  ... and these two pillars are now standing in their main museum in Paris.  Shame.

Now back to Frederic Church.

Church was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1826 and died in New York in 1900.  His visit to Ecuador gave birth to some of his most amazing paintings of almost outer worldly landscapes with the most meticulous touch to details.

In 1868,  he and his wife travelled to the Middle East and covered the modern day Syria, Israel, Egypt, Lebanon and surrounding areas.  Their travels to the Muslim regions seem to have been for only three months but the Churches were so impressed by what they saw in the Middle East they designed their own home in Hudson, NewYork  based on the architecture of a house they had seen in Damascus. 

You will want to gaze at some of his paintings and wonder how many years and how many millions of times his brush must have touched the canvas until he was fully satisfied that he had not forgotten anything that his eyes had seen.

I kept musing aloud to Kia on how if I was stinking rich I would have loved to have one of Church's painting in my bedroom and would look at it before dozing off to sleep and hope to dream that I was floating aloft in one of his landscapes.

The reproductions of his works are many and are sold from the low 100s to the high 500s.  The posters and prints are sold from anywhere between $5 - 25.

 More here   on the painter and pics of many of his works.

Read more  about the New England Scenery painting.