Mertz Library Humanities

Glorious Country

September 16, 2026

11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. | Mertz Library Reading Room

An image of a black and white portrait of a person layered over a mountainous landscape at sunset, with the words "How the Artist Frederic Church Brought the World to America and America to the World" by Victoria JohnsonHow the Artist Frederic Church Brought the World to America and America to the World

Join author Victoria Johnson as she discusses her latest book, Glorious Country, which traces the paths of a towering artist and his country in an era of fervent change. Frederic Church lived and worked in New York in the city’s formative years, where he founded its first great museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. In his own paintings, he conveyed his passion for the exquisite natural beauty of the United States, and also for a Union free of monarchy and slavery.

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About the Speaker

Victoria Johnson is the author of three books, including the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic. She is a professor of urban policy and planning at Hunter College in New York City and holds a doctorate in sociology from Columbia University, as well as an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Yale. Johnson’s latest book is the first-ever biography of Frederic Church (1826 to 1900), the virtuosic painter who put American art on the map of the world.

Location Mertz Library Reading Room

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