Len Jenshel Photograph - Interior of Olana, the Frederic Church estate in Columbia County New York - 1985

Title: The Interior of Olana
Photographer: Len Jenshel
1986
Overall size matted is 27 x 23 1/2 inches, Photo size is 20 x 16 inches

This fine art photograph by Len Jenshel captures an interior view of Olana, the historic home of artist Frederic Edwin Church in Hudson, New York. The image features richly ornamented architectural details: elaborate stenciling on the walls and ceilings, warm natural light filtering through windows, antique furnishings, intricate motifs inspired by Middle Eastern design, and a harmonious balance of color and texture. Through Jenshel’s lens you sense both the historic grandeur of Olana’s eclectic interior — with its Persian and Moorish influences — and the serenity and dignity of a space preserved almost as in Church’s time. It’s an intimate, atmospheric portrait of history, artistry, and design merged.

Len Jenshel | American, 1949 -
Len Jenshel is one of the pioneers of "The New Color," photographing landscape and culture since 1974. His books include Travels in the American West (Smithsonian, 1992), Charmed Places (Abrams, 1988), and Charleston and the Low Country (Spacemaker Press, 1997). His photographs have been exhibited internationally in one-person shows at the Yokohama Museum in Tokyo, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the International Center of Photography in New York City, to name a few. His work is represented in over one hundred collections worldwide. He has received numerous grants including the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, the National Endowment for the Arts, two from the New York State Council on the Arts, the Graham Foundation, and the Design Trust for Public Space.

In addition to his personal projects, he also work on assignments for major domestic and international magazines including National Geographic, Conde Nast Traveler, House & Garden, The New Yorker, National Geographic Traveler, New York Times' Sophisticated Traveler, Washington Post Magazine, Fortune, Men's Journal, Audubon, Departures, Civilization, Travel & Leisure, GEO, Life, T&L Golf, Organic Style, Budget Travel, Nest, Outside, Town & Country, and many others.

Len and his wife, Diane Cook, currently live and work in New York City.

Olana State Historic Site is a historic house museum and landscape in Greenport, New York, near the city of Hudson. The estate was home to Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900), one of the major figures in the Hudson River School of landscape painting. The centerpiece of Olana is an eclectic villa which overlooks parkland and a working farm designed by the artist. The residence has a wide view of the Hudson River Valley, the Catskill Mountains and the Taconic Range. Church and his wife Isabel (1836–1899) named their estate after a fortress-treasure house in ancient Greater Persia (modern-day Armenia), which also overlooked a river valley.