The Church is delighted to announce our Summer 2026 exhibition, This Land: Considering the American Landscape, curated by Donna De Salvo and Seph Rodney, opening on June 20 and on view through September 6. Responding to the prompt ‘What is the American landscape?,’ a question timed to reflect this year of our nation’s 250th anniversary, De Salvo and Rodney have conceived of a transhistorical exhibitionthat explores artistic responses to the American landscape both at its inception and today. Artists to be included are: Jeremy Dennis, Thomas Doughty, Asher B. Durand, Cristina Fernandez, April Gornik, Leslie Hewitt, Sky Hopinka, An-My Lê, Zoe Leonard, Richard Mayhew, Charles Henry Miller, Kent Monkman, Mary Nimmo Moran, Thomas Moran, Arcmanoro Niles, James Perkins, Albert Pinkham Ryder, Lucy Raven, Anastasia Samoylova, Meg Webster, selections from Dan Flavin’s collection of Hudson River School paintings and works on paper, and a contribution from the Center for Land Use Interpretation.
“The Hudson River School artists were inspired by the vastness and overwhelming beauty of the American landscape, particularly in the Hudson Valley,” said Donna De Salvo. “They sought to depict what they saw as the sublime, awe-inspiring quality of the natural world, a romanticized view that often omitted signs of industry and the presence of indigenous peoples. This exhibition brings into dialogue works by some of its artists and contemporary figures who continue to draw inspiration from the American landscape — making visible what is often obscured and underscoring the ways the past remains embedded in the present.”
The presentation will feature important works by artists associated with the Hudson River School, often thought to be the first true American art movement - Asher B. Durand, Thomas Doughty, Thomas Moran, Mary Nimmo Moran, Albert Pinkham Ryder and others. Pivotal loans from neighboring institutions underscore the cultural and artistic history of the region: the Parrish Art Museum, the East End’s oldest institution, founded in 1898, will contribute six Hudson River School paintings, highlighting the Parrish’s collection and role in presenting American art; Guild Hall will lend a painting by Thomas Moran, evoking the legacy of the institution as hub for local arts, as Moran was based in East Hampton; and the Dia Art Foundation, who will be lending selections from Dan Flavin’s personal collection of Hudson River School works on paper which they received as a part of the Flavin Foundation’s integration with the museum, a partnership that also included the founding of Dia Bridgehampton and the Dan Flavin Art Institute.
“Part of what we’ve aimed to do is show how a mythology, subtly and explicitly advanced by the Hudson River School of a sublime, idealized landscape that presupposes a particular viewer,” said Seph Rodney, “ gets subsequently upended by contemporary artists who show that issues regarding labor, Indigenous life, national borders, social class aspirations, and the materials of the earth itself are all bound up with the American landscape and deserve exploration.”
From the foundation of 19th century American painting and works on paper, the exhibition will turn its focus dramatically to the present, exhibiting works by artists from the last few years across all artistic media (painting, photography, video, sculpture, mixed media work, and performance). Taken together, the contemporary works explore currents in artistic forms and practices, conceptual underpinnings and approaches, and/ or sociopolitical or ideological expressions. Included among these are artists working with the ongoing history of the ‘sublime,’ a notion that the artist might uncover a covert spiritual presence, made popular on this soil by the Hudson River School artists. Further art historical references include nods to mid-20th Century ‘land art’ movements that challenged sculptural norms and explored the boundaries of minimalism. Considerations of issues related to land usage, borders, immigration, labor, and occupation permeate many of the works.
“Bridging more than 200 years of art with deep poignancy to both our national and regional experience, this exhibition will inspire and delight as it compels a thoughtful consideration of art and the human experience. We are indebted to Donna and Seph for their remarkable insights, as well as the intrepid artists in the exhibition, and the collaboration of our peer institutions,” remarked Sheri L. Pasquarella, The Church’s Executive Director.
This Land will be accompanied by concerts, performances, lectures, and tours, creating a dynamic cultural program that draws thousands of visitors. This exhibition invites audiences to contemplate the relentless beauty, complexity, and contradictions of the American landscape—past and present—while imagining how they might locate themselves in the various, distinct regions of the same domain.
