“An exhibition exploring the undertold stories of African American artists who sought new possibilities, inspiration and environments in the Nordic countries in the 20th century opened at Scandinavia House on November 26, 2024. Nordic Utopia? African Americans in the 20th Century looks at the significance of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden as destinations for cultural figures including Ronald Burns, Doug Crutchfi eld, Herb Gentry, Dexter Gordon, William Henry Johnson, Howard Smith and Walter Williams through a range of artifacts, artworks (music, paintings, drawings, sculpture, ceramics, textiles), and documentary evidence (photography, film, and journalistic writing).

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, 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.” — Scandinavia House

Installation views of Nordic Utopia? African Americans in the 20th Century at Scandinavia House, November 26, 2024 – March 8, 2025. Photos: EIleen Travell. Courtesy Scandinavia House.

Nordic Utopia? African Americans in the 20th Century was organized by the National Nordic Museum in Seattle by co-curators and ASF Fellows Ethelene Whitmire and Leslie Anne Anderson, where it debuted in March 2024, the exhibition will now be on view at Scandinavia House through March 8, 2025.

Title image: Walter Williams. Southern Landscape, 1977-78. Mixed media. Photo courtesy of the David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland College Park.