Though my areas of interest include modern and contemporary periods I will discuss earlier artists or works if they provide a foundation for my theory.
In the post My Male Muses I stated that Creole Konst was inspired by three artists and though this is accurate my first experience, in terms of thinking about Sweden in relation to art history and my research agenda, was during my time as a graduate student attending Howard University. In the seminar on 19th century art I took an interest with Robert S. Duncanson first because his landscape paintings had the ability to draw the viewer into the space. When closely viewing his works you discover his great sense of depth and how he captures nature through great detail –I find it incredibly masterful that he does this while at the same time making an ethical point of view regarding freedom and slavery. But I also took an interest in his personal narrative because of his mixed identity – his mother’s ancestry was African and his father’s was Scottish.
Duncanson is discussed in the book History of African-American Artists: From 1792 to the Present but after perusing the end notes I recall being surprised that the King of Sweden had purchased Land of the Lotus Eaters, 1861. I actually remember thinking out loud – oh that is interesting – because up until that moment I never came across Sweden being mentioned in relation to artists of color. And now several years after the fact…smile! (Though I must admit after that moment I started looking more closely at end-notes and indexes and discovered one of my favorite sculptors is also connected to Sweden – that post is forthcoming)!
Footnotes & References…
Smithsonian Magazine article America’s Forgotten Landscape Painter: Robert S. Duncanson
puss och kram (xox)
creole konst 
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