New WAM exhibit features important modern artist with Wichita connections

A traveling retrospective exhibition featuring the works of the Swedish-born, pioneering modernist artist B.J.O. Nordfeldt — who had strong artistic ties to Wichita — is making its first stop at the Wichita Art Museum.

To celebrate the artist’s Swedish heritage and Wichita connections, WAM is putting on a “Välkommen Nordfeldt” Swedish festival on the exhibition’s opening day Saturday, Sept. 25.

“B.J.O. Nordfeldt: American Internationalist” will remain at WAM through Jan. 6

Opening day activities will include performances by the Lindsborg Swedish Folk Dancers and fiddlers, artmaking inspired by Nordfeldt’s work and Swedish heritage, and Swedish foods for sale. The Swedish festival happens outdoors on the Lattner and Walker Family Plaza from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Some artmaking will also happen indoors until 3 p.m.

Two hour-long talks, including one by the granddaughter of a Prairie Print Maker artist who was friends with Nordfeldt, are also scheduled on opening day.

At 1 p.m., Barbara Thompson will talk about Nordfeldt’s close friendships with her grandfather, C.A. Seward, and other Wichita artists. At 2 p.m., Wichita State history professor and author Jay Price will talk about how Swedish immigrants helped shape the Great Plains. With limited capacity indoors for the talks, WAM plans to post recordings on its YouTube channel, according to Teresa Veazey, WAM’s public relations manager.

Born in Sweden, Nordfeldt was a young teen when his family emigrated to the U.S. in 1891. He trained at the Art Institute of Chicago and studied painting in Paris and printmaking in the United Kingdom. While he lived in several places in the U.S., he spent 1919 through 1937 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which is where Wichita banker and painter Ed Davison befriended him. Nordfeldt already knew fellow Swede and Lindsborg, Kansas, artist Birger Sandzen.

Through his connections with Sandzen, Davison and influential Wichita artists Bill and Betty Dickerson and Seward and others, Nordfeldt often exhibited in Wichita.

His first exhibition in Kansas was in 1917, arranged by Sandzen, according to WAM director Patricia McDonnell. He regularly taught classes for extended periods at the Wichita Art Association, now known as Mark Arts, because of his friendship with Bill Dickerson, who was the association’s director.

McDonnell became quite familiar with Nordfeldt’s art while working as a curator from 1991 to 2002 at the Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota, since it holds the largest collection of his works. The Weisman, which has organized the traveling exhibition, was gifted works held by his estate after his death in 1955.

McDonnell didn’t realize his strong Wichita ties until she took the helm of the Wichita Art Museum in 2007 and discovered that one of Nordfeldt’s works was among the 27 pieces of art owned by the Wichita public school district and stored by WAM.

That piece, “Girl Holding a Flower,” is included in the retrospective along with pieces from the Weisman as well as other museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

During his Wichita visits, Nordfeldt did a family portrait for Wichita’s prominent Love family. That work, on loan from a family member, is part of a complementary exhibition WAM has organized in a smaller gallery.

That exhibition showcases Nordfeldt’s Wichita connections, with works by not only Nordfeldt but also his area friends, such as Seward. A piece by Nordfeldt recently acquired by WAM is also in the smaller exhibition, which will remain on display until March 13.

McDonnell said she’s particularly pleased that WAM is kicking off the touring retrospective of Nordfeldt. Not only was he part of Wichita’s art scene, he also is a significant artist in the art world as a pioneering modernist who “challenged himself across the years to be original.” He explored different subjects and styles, with the results being “gorgeous paintings,” she said.

As evidence of his stature, McDonnell pointed out Nordfeldt had one-person exhibitions at some of American’s top museums: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

In 1956, following his death, “the Met, no less, staged a memorial exhibition to him. That says something about how important he was.”

‘B.J.O. Nordfeldt: American Internationalist” opening day and exhibition at WAM

What: a landmark retrospective traveling exhibition of the Swedish-born pioneering modernist artist who had strong Wichita connections

Where: Wichita Art Museum, 1400 W. Museum Blvd.

When: Sept. 25- Jan. 6, 2022. WAM is hosting a free, special opening day of festivities, focusing on Nordfeldt’s Swedish roots and Wichita connections, from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 25, with several activities happening outside on Lattner and Walker Family Plaza and exhibition-related talks indoors. The talks will be recorded and available on the WAM YouTube channel.

Admission: $10 adults, $5 ages 60 and up, $3 for college students with ID and youth ages 5-17, and free for children under 5 and WAM members Tuesday-Friday and Sunday. Free admission on Saturdays.

More information: 316-268-4921 or wichitaartmuseum.org