Clouds over Olana

Posted on June 19, 2014 by Judith McKeon

Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900)
Clouds over Olana, August 1872
Oil on off-white paper, 8-11/16 x 12-1/8 in.
Olana State Historic Site, New York

clouds over Olana and the Hudson River Valley, Hudson, NY 16 May 2014

There were rain clouds over Olana when Laura and I visited the Hudson, NY home of Frederic Edwin Church, American landscape painter of the Hudson River School.

Olana, Persian inspired home of Frederic E. Church built 1870–1872, Hudson, NY

Church knew the Hudson, NY site of his future home well. He had painted the Hudson River Valley from the hilltop as a student of Thomas Cole (1801-1848). Church studied painting at Cole’s Catskill, NY studio across the river, and Cole took his student sketching all over the Catskills and the Berkshires during 1844-1846. The British-American landscape painter influenced Church and a generation of American landscape painters who became known as the Hudson River School. The master praised his student who had “the finest eye for drawing in the world.” Church made his debut at the National Academy of Design at 20.

view of the Hudson from Olana

After his apprenticeship with Cole, Church continued to travel and sketch, producing New York and New England landscapes in his NYC studio. Like his contemporary Walt Whitman (1819-1892), Church was inspired by renowned German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), who spent five years exploring the Amazon (1799-1804), recounted in his popular Personal Narrative (1807) of travels in equatorial South America. In his great work, the scientific best seller, Cosmos: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe (1845), Humboldt describes the natural world as a unified, organic, kosmos and not only encourages American naturalists to follow in his footsteps, but also American artists and poets. Humboldt’s groundbreaking work is made for America, and its enduring thesis insists that we see our environment as a living, organic whole. In 1853 Church, the first American artist to heed Humboldt’s call, made his initial trip to South America, following Humboldt’s route through Columbia and Ecuador into the Andes and returned with sketchbooks and diaries filled with exotic, illuminated, landscapes.

Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900)
The Andes of Ecuador, 1855
Oil on canvas: 48 x 75 in.
Reynolda House Museum of Art, Winston-Salem, NC

If Church is searching for the light, the organic synthesis of Humboldt’s living cosmos in The Andes of Ecuador, so, too, is Whitman inspired to record light-filled landscapes in his poem “A Prairie Sunset”:

Shot gold, maroon and violet, dazzling silver,
emerald, fawn,
The earth’s whole amplitude and nature’s mul-
tiform power consigned for once to colors;
The light, the genial air possessed by them—
colors till now unknown,
No limit, confine—not the Western sky alone—
the high meridian—North, South, all,
Pure luminous color fighting the silent shadows
to the last.

For Whitman, who contains multitudes, there is no limit to nature’s power, to the luminous colors of the Western sky, to the human soul transcendent in Humboldt’s cosmic unity.

Back in New York, Church continued to paint awe-inspiring North American landscapes

Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900)
Niagara, 1857
Oil on canvas 42 1/2 x 90 1/2 in. (108 x 229.9 cm)
The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

Detail: Fredric Edwin Church (1826-1900) Niagara, 1857

Church debuted Niagara in 1857 at Williams, Stevens, and Williams in New York City; 100,000 people paid 25 cents each to see the monumental ninety inch (more than 7-feet across) canvas of our great American natural wonder–water rushing over the falls–up close. Niagara traveled to major US cities, to Britain and was exhibited in the 1867 Exposition Universelle in Paris. Niagara made Church’s reputation.

Detail: Fredric Edwin Church (1826-1900) Niagara, 1857

Williams, Stevens and Williams agreed to pay Church $2,500 for the painting plus an additional $2,000 to hold the copyright. If they resold the painting, for a sum greater than $2,500, they’d split the proceeds with Church.

1857 was an ambitious year: Church painted Niagara, the exhibition of Niagara drew 100,000 Americans inspired by Church’s representation of our great natural wonder. Niagara spoke to the American spirit, imagination and, perhaps, patriotism, uniting the country for a moment in time before we waged our bloody Civil War. After the exhibition the artist returned to equatorial South America for another sketching trip.

Fredric Edwin Church (1826-1900)
Heart of the Andes, 1859
Oil on canvas 66 1/8 x 119 1/4 in. (1168 x 302.9 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY

In 1859 Church painted the monumental Heart of the Andes, an instant success.

Heart of the Andes detail

Church’s monumental canvas is ten feet across and rich in botanical detail

People again paid 25 cents each to see Church’s huge, exotic, sublime landscape; after the exhibition the artist sold the painting for $10,000, equivalent to more than $225,000.00 today. In 1859 tensions were growing in America. The country was a tinderbox. The exotic landscape Heart of the Andes appealed to the American public and captured the American imagination. The masterpiece made the artist rich and famous. What it meant to the artist is that he could afford to hire a ship to take him north to the Arctic to sketch icebergs.

Heart of the Andes detail

By 1860 Church was the most successful artist in America; he moved his family into the farmhouse “Cosy Cottage” on the Hudson property. In 1867 the Churches traveled for 18 months in Egypt, the Middle East, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Greece; it was in Egypt and the Middle East that Church got his first taste of Islamic art and design. He was smitten. By 1870, he was ready to buy the hilltop and 250 acres and dedicate his artistic genius to designing and building his architectural masterpiece. Olana, the Persian-style villa estate is built on the hill-top, unified and integrated into its designed naturalistic landscape of lakes, woods, meadows, farmland, gardens, and planned views of the magnificent Hudson River Valley.

Church’s studio

rustic Olana fencing is made with mountain laurel wood (Kalmia latifolia)

rustic Olana benches are also constructed of mountain laurel wood (Kalmia latifolia)

rustic Olana bench is made from mountain laurel wood (Kalmia latifolia)

Perennial Borders

Allium aflatunense ‘Purple Sensation’

Narcissus bulbocodium var. conscpicuus

Laura and I purchased our $10 tickets for the Olana house tour in the visitor center when we arrived. We watched a film introducing visitors to Frederic Edwin Church, the making of Olana, and the preservation of Olana. It was misty, threatening rain, so we decided to walk in the gardens until our tour time or until the rain poured. When it poured rain, we’d run for shelter.

Olana facade and main entrance

The artist designed the house, working with Calvert Vaux, and every detail, from the Persian-style facade, to the decorative tiles.

Olana facade and main entrance

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tiles pattern: photo by Laura Flandreau

the handsome Indian-style colonnaded veranda was added in 1890; open doors in summer admit cool air and provide fine views

The beautifully proportioned and brightly painted Mughal-style colonnaded veranda demonstrates Church’s increasing fascination with Indian art and architecture and the Influence of Lockwood de Forest, a student and relation, who made frequent passage to India on buying trips; de Forest sent Church Indian and Kashmiri artifacts to add his collection on display in the artist’s studio in Olana.

impressive view of the man-made lake from the veranda

Church also designed the naturalistic landscape inspired by the Romantic English Park style popularized in America by Andrew Jackson Downing and Calvert Vaux, who designed many of the homes and country estates on the Hudson and, with Olmstead began developing plans for Central Park, until Downing’s untimely death in 1852. Like Central Park and other naturalistic gardens and country estates, Olana is a built landscape, complete with man-made lake, copses of trees planted to close or open sight lines associated with grand borrowed views of the Hudson River Valley.

view of the man-made lake from the garden

When the rain came, we took shelter with our four fellow visitors and waited to be admitted to the inner sanctum of Church’s Olana

Entering Olana, it really feels as if the artist just stepped out, and maybe he’ll return to give the tour. Olana is essentially as Frederic Edwin Church left his home in 1900. The treasurers of Olana have not been plundered. The house was maintained as a museum and occupied by Church’s daughter-in-law until her death in 1966.

The house tour is excellent and well worth the price of admission. The house is beautifully maintained, a result of planned on-going restoration of both buildings and landscape, a joint effort of New York State and the Olana Partnership.

2012 invitation to the annual Olana Partnership-Frederic E. Church Award Gala at the New York Public Library honoring individual contributions to American culture. (2012 honorees: Martha Stewart and Met curator Morrison Heckschar). Pictured is the South-facing studio window framing a view of the Hudson and Catskill, NY in fall. No interior photography is permitted, so this a taste.

views of the Hudson from the upper level porch off the artist’s studio

view of the Hudson and Catskill, NY from the upper level porch off the studio

obscured view of the Rip Van Winkle Bridge spanning the Hudson River

After our excellent house tour at Olana, we crossed the Rip Van Winkle Bridge into Catskill, NY to have a look at Cedar Grove, the home of Church’s teacher, Thomas Cole, the landscape painter who started it all.

Cedar Grove’s 200-year old honey locust tree (Gleditsia triacanthos).

Cedar Grove was closing, but it was worth the ride across the bridge to see Cole’s 200-year-old honey locust and wander around a bit

Fredric Edwin Church (1826-1900)
Olana from the Southwest
Oil on thin paperboard

Crossing back on the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, behold, Church’s Olana sitting high on the hill overlooking the Hudson. It really is quite a dramatic sight.

A few favorite Landscape Paintings

I like Church paintings that flame at sunset or dawn, like J. M. W. Turner.

J. M. W. Turner (1775-1851)
The Fighting Temeraire, 1839 Oil on canvas: 30 x 48 in.
National Gallery, London

Take Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire (tugged to her Last Berthe to be broken up), for example. The colors are magnificent, glorious, and yet the painting represents the bitter end for a grand ship that, with Nelson’s flag-ship the Victory, defeated Napoleon at Trafalgar. It’s no wonder it’s Britain’s favorite painting.

I am reminded of Turner in Church’s Cotopaxi.

Frederic Edwin Church (1826 -1900)
Cotopaxi, 1862
Oil on canvas: 48 x 85 in.
Detroit Institute of Arts
________________________________________

Most critics see Church’s 1862 fiery landscape painting of erupting Ecuadorian volcano Cotopaxi as a metaphor for the US Civil War. Included in the 2013 Smithsonian exhibition: “The Civil War and American Art,” the blazing colors flame as paradise is destroyed by the erupting volcano spewing molten fire and ash.

Thomas Cole (1801–1848)
View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm—The Oxbow, 1836
Oil on canvas; 51 1/2 x 76 in. (130.8 x 193 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
________________________________________

Cole’s The Oxbow is all sky and fast-moving clouds. It reminds me of Beethoven’s “Pastoral Symphony.”

I’ve always liked Cole. He studied at the Academy (PAFA), worked as an engraver in Philadelphia when he arrived in the US from England, and did some sketching on the Wissahickon before returning to England. Back in the US, he settled at Cedar Grove on the Hudson in Catskill, NY where he seems to have given American art a big push toward modernity.

Paeonia, beautiful Paeonia

Posted on June 12, 2014 by Judith McKeon

I’ve always preferred the lovely botanical name Paeonia.

Zou Chuan An (1941- ). Flowers and Birds. Chinese Gongbi Painting

The contemporary Chinese artist Zou Chuan An (1941- ) paints in a traditional style, using a technique known as gongbi (meticulous). Depicted in this wonderful painting is the common Chinese tree peony, Paeonia suffruiticosa [pay-ON-ee-a su-fru-ti-KO-sa]. Tree peony is a shrub, easily distinguished from its herbaceous perennial cousins, familiar garden varieties of Paeonia lactiflora, by its persistent woody stems. My friend Jane grows both types, and she sent me beautiful photos. I think I’ve correctly identified most of them.

Photos by Jane Bodine

I don’t know how any gardener can resist tree peonies.

Paeonia ostii ‘Phoenix White’ blooming in Jane’s garden: large, perfect snowy petals open to reveal golden stamens clustered around a red center

The common tree peony has been cultivated in China for sixteen centuries and is represented by more than 1000 local varieties. Cultivated Chinese tree peonies have a complicated history, involving multiple Paeonia species, populations and locations. In addition, traits of cultivated tree peonies have diverged from wild Chinese species, particularly in flower size, petal count and color. This makes it difficult for Chinese botanists to sort out the domestication history of the tree peony; DNA profiles may be key.

“Flowers float like silk”

‘Phoenix White’ tree peony opening in the dewy morning after closing over night

Here’s the Cricket Hill Garden catalog description of Paeonia ostii ‘Phoenix White’:

“Flowers float like silk on top of the leaves. This is a cultivated variety of the wild species tree peony Paeonia ostii. It is a very versatile garden plant that is adaptable to harsh growing conditions. Planted in shadier areas it will still grow and flower well. ‘Phoenix White’ has been commercially grown for at least 500 years in central China. The roots of tree peonies are used in traditional Chinese medicine. They possess yin qualities and are used in combination with other herbs to treat a range of maladies, including liver ailments.”

‘Phoenix White’ tree peony in bud and bloom in Jane’s garden

The variety ‘Feng Dan Bai (‘Phoenix White’) originated in Tongling County, Anhui Province, China hundreds of years ago; its mature size is 5 x 4′ at ten years. Single white flowers are very large, about 8 – 9″ across and fragrant.

“I cut a tree peony for my friends Rachel and Owen. It was huge.”

‘Phoenix White’ tree peony bloom going over and folding like a huge snowy handkerchief

a view of Jane’s spring garden with Chinese tree peonies and lilac

Will the real burgundy tree peony, please stand up!

Paeonia suffruiticosa ‘Burgundy Wine’ is the real burgundy tree peony in Jane’s garden

Here’s the Klehm Song Sparrow Nursery Catalog description of Paeonia suffruiticosa ‘Burgundy Wine’:

“A very floriferous plant with good strength and excellent vigor and substance. Deep burgundy wine fully open blossoms show a center of yellow stamens.”

Hardly a poetic description, no, Klehm and Domoto have chosen the perfect name for their wine dark peony, so we need only a brief description of how their aristocratic tree peony grows. Including parentage is a bonus: ‘Burgundy Wine’ is a seedling of Moutan (Paeonia suffruiticosa) raised by Toichi Domoto, the Japanese American nurseryman noted for hybridizing camelias, tree peonies and Japanese maples (Acer palmatum). ‘Burgundy Wine’ (Domoto 1987) was introduced by Roy Klehm of Song Sparrow Nursery in 1995.

superb semi-double flowers of ‘Burgundy Wine’ Chinese tree peony seem to twist as they unfurl fluted petals, gradually revealing a tight cluster of golden-yellow stamens, which echo the golden flowers of Kerria japonica mirrored as a backdrop in Jane’s spring garden.

‘Burgundy Wine’ Chinese tree peony makes a vigorous 3 – 4 x 3′ shrub with handsome, clean, red-tinged foliage, contributing abundant bloom to Jane’s spring border

large, semi-double flowers of ‘Burgundy Wine’ Chinese tree peony hold their distinctive dark red color against handsome deeply cut foliage tinged crimson; then peony petals blue to magenta as they shatter

Paeonia suffruiticosa ‘Burgundy Wine’ Chinese tree peony produces one bud per strong stem and makes an excellent cut flower clothed in deeply cut foliage tinged crimson

Herbaceous Garden Peonies

“The herbaceous peony is the one we are accustomed to see in some not very attractive shades of red or pink in cottage gardens. Do not condemn it on that account.There are many varieties either single or double, ranging from pure white through white-and-yellow, to shell-pink, deep pink and the sunset you find in P. peregrina.

V. Sackville-West. In Your Garden, 4 Sept 1949

Jane called in early June, enthusiastic about her visit to a peony farm out near Longwood in Chester County. She described walking through fields of herbaceous peonies, and the thrill of being surrounded by pastel peony blooms stretching to the horizon, which she likened to an impressionist painting.

“There were acres and acres of nearly 100 varieties of peonies outstretched over rolling hill country amidst wild grasses and in some areas California poppies. It was windy that morning–propelling rivers of motion in the fields.”

a worker gathers fresh-cut peony flowers 1 June 2014

“Imagine the WONDER of coming upon this tucked in the heart of a peony! Exquisite.”

Herbaceous peonies, the garden peonies most of us inherit or choose to plant, are the most long-lived of any perennial garden plants. When I was in horticulture school, I lived on Maplewood Ave. in Germantown, and from my second floor window I could see a lovely wild spring scene in the abandoned back garden of the adjacent house on Schoolhouse Lane: a field of tall grass and dandelions punctuated with big bunches of pink double peonies. When I went back to check a few years later, they were gone, lost under the construction presumably when the building was extended; otherwise, double pink peonies would bloom forever in a field of grass and dandelions.

“To be practical, there is much to recommend the peony. I will make a list of its virtues. It is a very long-lived plant, increasing yearly in vigour if you will only leave it undisturbed. It likes to stay put.”

V. Sackville-West. In Your Garden Again, 22 June 1952

In May Jane’s garden is a profusion of white, pale pink, violet and coral blooms

Jane’s garden blooms in profusion in successive waves as tulips and spring bulbs give way to peonies and iris, and roses and clematis to lilies and daylilies, and summer annuals to fall delights. In May, Paeonia ‘Krinkled White’ dominates the foreground with its large, crisp, creamy petals and golden-yellow stamens, tall bearded Iris ‘Clarence’ in white with violet falls contributes a streak of violet-blue contrast, and ‘Coral ‘n Gold’ single peonies transition to roses behind, where taller Bourbon rose ‘Souvenir de St. Anne’ fills the background, putting on quite a show with a mass of fragrant, semi-double, shell pink, blooms. Finally, Jane’s magnificent cerulean urn draws the eye to the right, and then farther back, we notice a swirl of magenta on a trellis as ascending blooms of Clematis ‘Rouge Cardinal’ open. Beautiful. And so satisfying.

large creamy, single flowers of Paeonia ‘Krinkled White’ interface with fragrant clusters of semi-double Bourbon rose ‘Souvenir de St. Anne’ while a ‘Coral ‘n Gold’ single peony peaks out on the left and Jane’s cerulean urn is visible on the right

Lauded on both sides of the Atlantic and cherished by gardeners since its introduction in 1928, Paeonia ‘Krinkled White’ is a winner by any standard: its single crepe paper like flowers are large and fragrant carried on strong stems, making it an excellent garden and landscape specimen for which it won The American Peony Society Award for Landscape Merit (ALM).

single ‘Krinkled White’ peony and its foregrounded foil: tall bearded Iris ‘Clarence’ flowers of palest bluish-white with dramatic violet-blue falls

Visiting Jane’s garden is always satisfying.

Here is the handiwork of a skilled gardener. The beautiful yet subtle combination of single peonies, semi-double roses, and tall bearded iris is the result of thoughtful planning, artful design and good gardening practice.

Jane loves singles, and so do I.

dazzling single peony ‘Coral ‘n Gold’ resembles a poppy with its vivid cupped reddish-orange petals enhanced by a center of golden stamens.

Imagine a field of ‘Coral ‘n Gold’ poppy-like single peonies.

Claude Monet. Coquelicots (Poppies), 1873

lovely single Paeonia ‘Coral ‘n Gold’

Paeonia ‘Doreen,’ Imperial or Japanese style peony boasts showy fuchsia-pink petals with large glowing stamenoid centers

Paeonia ‘Doreen’ is a classic Japanese style peony, distinguished from single and Anemone type flowers by its central cluster of stamens which have been transformed into slender petals or stamenoids.

Paeonia ‘Do Tell’: “This is one of my favorite shots–such an exquisite peony.”

Jane’s exquisite peony ‘Do Tell’ is also a classic Anemone-type flower, similar to Japanese, but staminoids are even more petal-like petaloids.

Paeonia ‘Bowl of Beauty’ opening in the dewy morning light after closing over night

Paeonia ‘Bowl of Beauty’ with cupped cerise-pink petals and a central mass of narrow, creamy-white petaloids in classic Anemone-form

Peonies are classified by their flower forms: single, semi-double, Japanese or Imperial, Anemone, Double, and Bomb. Any questions, follow the flower forms link or check with the American Peony Society. I’m no peony expert. I hope my discussion of the distinctions and Jane’s beautiful photo illustrations make it clear. I do think it perfect that Jane grows each type of peony flower form. Up next: Bomb.

Paeonia ‘Red Charm’ Bomb type flower

Paeonia ‘Red Charm’ is so double it’s exploding in classic “Bomb” form; it’s like a double flower with many petals, but the stamens are transformed to substantial petals in the center forming a round ball or bomb, sometimes in a contrasting color. The term probably derives from bombe glacée, a spherical ice cream dessert.

Paeonia ‘Red Charm’ in perfect Bomb-form, sets the standard for crimson hybrid peonies

“The secret of growing the herbaceous peonies is to plant them very shallow and give them a deep, rich root-run of manure for their roots to find as they go down in search of nourishment. They will go ahead, and probably outlive the person who planted them, so that his or her grandchild will be picking finer flowers fifty years hence.”

V. Sackville-West. In Your Garden Again, 22 June 1952

Intersectional Peonies: the Itoh Hybrids

Intersectional peonies are hybrids between herbaceous peonies and tree peonies created by Japanese hybridizer Dr.Toichi Itoh in 1948 and are therefore referred to as Itoh hybrids.

Helen received this beautiful strawberry-red Itoh hybrid peony as a graduation gift in 2002, probably Paeonia x ‘Julia Rose’ blooming in her garden in early June 2014

Another unnamed peony, I’m not complaining. I’d never heard of intersectional peonies until Jane sent pictures of Helen’s. Fortunately, there are not many on the market; unfortunately, Itoh hybrids change color so much as they open, and some also fade dramatically, like Helen’s. It’s difficult to identify. Let’s face it, if I’ve learned one thing about peonies by writing the text to accompany Jane’s wonderful photos, I’ve learned that peony flowers are nearly impossible to reproduce for id purposes (except ‘Do Tell’), especially tree peonies. I had a devil of a time identifying Jane’s and had given up on the burgundy red when I decided to type in “burgundy” as a descriptor. I got a hit: “Burgundy Wine” appeared on the screen, a Klehm introduction, where Jane purchased all of her peonies over the years, accompanied by terrible pictures, and a perfect description.

My best guess to name Helen’s Itoh hybrid is Paeonia x ‘Julia Rose.’ Here’s the Solaris Farms catalog description:

“Flowers have a cream base color heavily overlaid in bright rose. Colors fade to amber, copper and yellow blends with pink highlights.” Bright rose seems right and fading to pink; photos are the correct colors but seem to show flowers with too many petals for a semi-double peony. Anyway, they look nothing like Jane’s pictures.

Here’s the Peony Farm catalog description:

“Intersectional. ‘Julia Rose’ opens cherry red, fades to apricot-yellow then yellow as the bloom matures. Shows 3 colors at the same time. An attractive mix of variously colored blooms on one plant!” The photos are excellent and do resemble Jane’s, at least the fully open fading bloom. Helen’s Itoh hybrid probably is Paeonia x ‘Julia Rose’

probably Paeonia x ‘Julia Rose’ blooming with Allium christophii in Helen’s garden

probably Paeonia x ‘Julia Rose’ fading to pink in Helen’s garden

“It always seems to me that the herbaceous peony is the very epitome of June. Larger than any rose, it has something of the cabbage rose’s voluminous quality, and when it finally drops from the vase, it sheds its vast petticoats with a bump on the table. . .”

V. Sackville-West. In Your Garden Again, 22 June 1952

“It’s wonderful to catch the moment a peony spills its multitude of petals”

It’s gratifying to know that gardeners across time and place have similar experiences, like Vita Sackville-West and my friend Jane commenting, each in her unique voice, on the moment a peony shatters in the vase. Both are gardeners who love the garden with an intimate knowledge of the whole and of each plant. At sunset when the work of tending her garden is over, she cuts a few carefully chosen bud and blooms, and brings the garden indoors. These, too, she knows intimately even as each stem gradually opens to full-blown and shatters.

See links below for peony sources. Jane orders from Klehm’s Song Sparrow Nursery. When I worked at the Morris Arboretum, we ordered our white peonies and blue iris from Roy Klehm for the border above the rock wall in the rose garden. Like most peony growers, Klehm’s ships in the fall: fresh, bare root plants with 2 -3 eyes. Helen’s friend Kathleen Gagan runs Peony’s Envy nursery and display gardens in Bernardsville, NJ off 287 south of Morristown, the only display gardens in the area so worth taking a ride. Photos on the website are excellent.