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Contemporary Scandinavian Art

Saturday, January 4, 1913Sunday, January 26, 1913

Installation view of Contemporary Scandinavian Art at the Albright Art Gallery (January 4–26, 1913). Image courtesy of the G. Robert Strauss, Jr. Memorial Library, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, The Buffalo Fine Arts Academy Notes; Volume No. 8, 1913. © 2021 Albright-Knox Art Gallery

From January 4 to 26, 1913, the Albright Art Gallery hosted the exhibition Contemporary Scandinavian Art. The exhibition, which also traveled to New York, Toledo, Chicago, and Boston, was presented “under the gracious patronage” of His Majesty Gustav V, King of Sweden; His Majesty Christian X, King of Denmark; and His Majesty Haakon VII, King of Norway; and organized by the American-Scandinavian Society. The exhibition was accompanied by a 176-page printed catalogue listing the works in the exhibition as well as biographical notes and a picture or self-portrait of each featured artist.

The American-Scandinavian Society was established primarily to cultivate closer relations between the people of the United States of America and the leading Scandinavian countries in order to strengthen the bonds between Scandinavian Americans, and to advance the knowledge of Scandinavian culture among the American public, particularly among the descendants of Scandinavians. The exhibition was one of the first occasions in the history of Scandinavian art that the three countries were featured in one exhibition.