Nordic Utopia? African Americans in the 20th Century

During the 20th century, African Americans visited, performed, studied, and lived in the Nordic countries for a variety of reasons: a sense of adventure, love, seeking educational and occupational opportunities, freedom to explore their sexuality, freedom from Jim Crow segregation back home, among many other reasons. Drawing from paintings, photographs, textiles, film, music, and dance, this exhibition captures their journeys as their sense of who they were was transformed through their Nordic encounters. Like Walter Williams's Southern Landscape, life in the Nordic countries could appear idyllic, but upon examining their stories more closely, like the painting, you begin to see hints of elements of the African American past like cotton fields and a shanty combined with elements in the foreground: fields of flowers, children, a bouquet, butterflies and birds taking flight, hopeful for a better day and opportunities for African Americans in the Nordic countries.

Nordic Utopia? African Americans in the 20th Century illuminates the untold story of African American visual and performing artists, such as Doug Crutchfield, Herb Gentry, Dexter Gordon, William Henry Johnson, Howard Smith, and Walter Williams, who sought new possibilities, inspiration, and environments in the Nordic countries as an alternative to Paris. This exhibition is the first comprehensive examination of this topic.

This exhibition features loans from the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC; the David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland, College Park; SMK—the National Gallery of Denmark; and Moderna Museet in Stockholm, among other public collections. It also assembles art and artifacts from private collections, including those of the artists.

A fully illustrated catalog accompanied Nordic Utopia?. It was co-edited with Dr. Ethelene Whitmire and Leslie Anne Anderson, this publication features essays by Dr. Temi Odumosu (University of Washington) and Dr. Ryan T. Skinner (Ohio State University).

The exhibition traveled to the Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin - Madison, (August 10 - November 10, 2024) and Scandinavia House (November 26, 2024 - March 8, 2025).

Curated Programs:
A Celebration of Dancer Doug Crutchfield: film screening and conversation between filmmaker Amir George and Dr. Davia Crutchfield on March 23, 2024

Spectrum Dance Theater performances on May 1 - 11, 2024: In collaboration with Spectrum Dance Theater (SDT), the National Nordic Museum presented an original performance choreographed by Spectrum's Artistic Director Donald Byrd, in response to Swedish jazz pianist Esbjörn Svensson's posthumously-released album Home.s. This original performance is inspired by the special exhibition.