The American Swedish Historical Museum is proud to present Art for All: The Swedish Experience in Mid-America, an exhibition of paintings and sculptures by Swedish-American artists in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. This colorful and emotive impressionist art reflects its own time, interprets nature and landscape, and is independent of artificial conventions while keeping Swedish folk traditions alive. This exhibition features many Swedish artists who studied and absorbed the democratic philosophies of “art for all,” espoused by Anders Zorn and the Artist’s League. These young artists immigrated to America to forge new career paths. “Art for all” became a catchphrase in Kansas by the 1930s, stemming from efforts of local artists to offer affordable paintings and prints so that every citizen could have original art in their own homes for a richly cultured way of life. Come and explore the significant impact these artists left on their communities and American art!
Art for All: The Swedish Experience in Mid-America was conceived and developed by the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery and the Hillstrom Museum of Art. It is supported by grants from the ASHM Auxiliary, Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, Freeman's, George C. and Esther Ann McFarland Foundation, Midsommarklubben, Red Moose Charitable Trust, Swedish Council of America, and an anonymous foundation. Support is provided in part by the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. Funding for the American Swedish Historical Museum is supported by a grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
