While millions of African Americans were moving up North or to the Midwest to escape the South during the Jim Crow era, a small group of Black artists were more interested in starting afresh outside the U.S. — specifically, in Scandinavia. These Black musicians, painters, dancers and singers who moved to the other side of the world for a second chance are the focus of the National Nordic Museum’s latest exhibit, “Nordic Utopia? African Americans in the 20th Century.”
Dr. Ethelene Whitmire, curator and professor of African American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Leslie Anne Anderson, chief curator at the National Nordic Museum, present the exhibit in the form of a question to reflect on how a place can be a safe haven for one part of the Black diaspora but the opposite for others.
The exhibit, which opened March 23, acknowledges the privileges that many of these artists had, such as being educated, affluent and holding dual citizenship — privileges a majority of their community in the U.S. were denied. The exhibit hones into how these artists were willing to move to and settle in the Nordic countries if it meant a lower risk of being targeted for the color of their skin. But, Anderson said, this era of tranquility that produced such profound artwork has barely received the attention it deserves.
“Museums need to often reexamine history and highlight areas that have been omitted or have not received the attention that they [deserve],” Anderson said. “It’s really important for scholars and curators to complicate our understanding of history and present it as a much more nuanced [perspective] of [these] Nordic countries during the 20th century.”
Whitmire pointed out the significance of “Nordic Utopia?” being held in an area with a prominent Scandinavian community. The idea for the exhibit arose after Whitmire led a session called “Black Americans in Denmark” at the museum in 2019. Anderson and Whitmire’s common interest in the parts of history that are rarely discussed led them to work extensively to bring this exhibit to a larger audience. As contributors to the academic discourse around Scandinavia, they wanted to hold themselves accountable. The pandemic delayed their work, but in those four years, Whitmire and Anderson connected with museums from the U.S., Denmark and Sweden to borrow art pieces and objects by artists like William Walter, Herb Gentry, Anne Brown, Howard Smith and William Henry Johnson.
Leaving home to find peace
The exhibit’s main goal is to provide an extensive look into Black American artists who decided to live and work in a majority white culture, which would end up heavily influencing their work. Although Black Americans from different artistic backgrounds and skills settled into the Nordic region, they were all escaping the evils of racism back home.
One artist, Anne Brown, an acclaimed soprano, settled in Norway in 1948 after facing years of discrimination that negatively affected her career as a performer. She wrote an article in 1953 for Ebony Magazine, “I Gave Up My Country for Love,” that detailed her new life in Norway. She explained in her piece, “Norwegians may be curious about ... brown skin; but there is no ugliness in their curiosity.” She married a Norwegian, performed at many theaters, retired and lived in the country until her death in 2009. An original copy of the magazine with Brown’s essay, including a photo of her happy family, is on display in the exhibit.
A quote from painter William Henry Johnson is displayed, saying that living in Denmark offered him a peace that he’d never experienced. He settled in Kerteminde, after marrying; as his personal life began to take root, so did his art. Paintings like “Sunset, Denmark” and “Danish Seaman” focused on different aspects of the town he resided in, with each painting rich in colors, whether it be a view of the town or a resident.
Alongside the works of art that give insight into the minds of each artist are personal objects individuals left behind in Scandinavia. Exhibit visitors will come across a well-worn suitcase, a pair of shoes, a hat, gloves and a small Bible that belonged to Eugene Haynes, a pianist and composer who toured throughout the region for 10 years.
However, the question still remains: Why did these artists choose to escape to such countries? Whitmire explained how individuals were more interested in finding the respite these unknown areas could offer than having to stay back home and continue to be discriminated against.
“They were more productive while they were there. As one musician said, this racial [prejudice] bit depletes your energy, and so instead of dealing with where [an artist] could live, are [their kids] dealing with racism in schools — they just work and not think about all those kinds of things,” Whitmire said. “A lot of the musicians said they composed more than they ever had, because they had steady work. They would have a residency for several months at some jazz club, and they didn’t have to struggle to find paid gigs.”
The time and space these Black artists were afforded in Scandinavian countries were vital to creating some of their greatest works of art, showcased in the exhibit. It’s also something I noticed as I took in every beautiful, meticulous detail of what these artists created. Many of the paintings depicted the artists’ surroundings through nature and people. Calmness washed over me as I stood in front of each work, knowing these artists also felt at peace while creating them. I felt compelled to go to these towns and experience a glimmer of the enlightenment those artists went through.
Yet there’re still some hints of their home country, such as from painters like Walter Williams, who became a naturalized Danish citizen. His most famous artwork, “Southern Landscape,” depicts a Black girl submerging herself in a field of flowers, holding an array of sunflowers, daffodils and red poppies. Just across the meadow scattered with butterflies, another Black person is picking cotton in a field against the sunburnt backdrop. Despite being heavily influenced by his surroundings while living in Bornholm, an island in the Baltic Sea, Williams also makes room for another part of his journey that he and his ancestors had overcome not too long before.
Passing it down to the next generation
Whitmire has dedicated much of her academic career to understanding the lives of artists like Williams during their time in Copenhagen, Oslo, Helsinki and Reykjavik. Like many of the individuals featured in this exhibit, curiosity drew Whitmire to take an impromptu trip to Denmark. Learning about African Americans of past generations who performed and lived in these countries inspired her. She went on to become a Fulbright scholar and a visiting professor at the University of Copenhagen from 2016 to 2017 to fully immerse herself in unraveling the reasoning behind many of these artists’ affiliation with the Nordic countries.
The themes in “Nordic Utopia?” are something Whitmire carries on into other projects. She organizes an annual study-abroad program for her students of color to become more attuned to this unique part of U.S. and European history. Black American artists’ distinctive work is still impactful to this day in Nordic cultures, as Whitmire explained; she’s talked with people about seeing these artists play decades ago or even learning from them. She recalls hearing of the widow of Dexter Gordon, an American saxophonist who recorded and performed much of his music in Copenhagen, holding a public reading for his memoir. Three hundred people showed up.
“A lot of the younger generation do know about him, and their [memories of him] are still very much alive. [One] of the Danish jazz musicians who’s on the record [“A Day in Copenhagen”] is still alive. I met him, and he showed me a photo of him as a young teenager looking very scared of Dexter Gordon, who was teaching him at the time,” Whitmire said.
Gordon lived in Copenhagen for over a decade, and in that time he experienced a sense of liberation in honing his craft in peace. The exhibit explains how musicians like Gordon were able to build their own communities. What would go on to happen was a collaborative culture forged between Black American and Danish artists that would allow Copenhagen to become the Nordic jazz capital. Gordon performed multiple sets at the Copenhagen club Jazzhus Montmartre and recorded his 1969 album, “A Day In Copenhagen,” commemorating his newfound home; the album plays in the overhead speakers throughout the exhibit.
“A lot of people wanted to reinvent themselves when they were over there, but sometimes people wanted to be special and be the only one. So they didn’t go to Paris, where a lot of African Americans will go — and they want to be kind of unique and stand out,” Whitmire said.
“Some people [visiting the museum would] want to hear about vikings, and this [exhibit] is definitely outside the norm. I would encourage people to come and see this forgotten history that a lot of [folks] haven’t heard about [yet].”
Although a majority of artists expressed their appreciation for a society that didn’t heavily rely on a discriminatory caste system, Nordic cultures still had a hand in upholding racist stereotypes. The exhibit also includes a written piece from Temi Odumosu, a professor at the University of Washington, about her own experience living in Sweden and coming across racist caricatures of Black and Brown people displayed in public while strolling through the city. Odumosu points out how many Scandinavian languages have their own anti-black slurs. There is a hesitancy to let go of such images since it reminds them of “simpler times.”
In recognizing the role that Scandinavian countries play when it comes to becoming more conscious of race, Odumosu refocuses her essay’s attention to applaud the Black travelers who pushed their fear away and built their own community in a far-off land. The exhibit heavily highlights bravery; each work, from a painting to an article, is a testimony to being seen as an artist first rather than as a second-class citizen.
This exhibit made me imagine an America if Black American artists didn’t feel suffocated by the racism that embeds itself into every fraction of our society. How many Black Americans pulled away from their canvases, shut off their microphones or put away their dancing shoes because survival was more important at that time? In a way, “Nordic Utopia?” is a look into the possibility of an artistic renaissance that could’ve transformed our country.
“Nordic Utopia? African Americans in the 20th Century” is open to the public until July 21 at the National Nordic Museum, before moving to the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, Wisconsin.
Marian Mohamed is the associate editor of Real Change. She oversees our weekly features. Contact her at [email protected].
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