William Morris Society of Canada Pages Monday 24 March 2025 May 2025 WMSC Nordic Arts Crafts Symposium Nordic Arts Crafts Symposium Saturday May 10th 20251000 am 400 pmcheckin and coffee 915945Campbell Conference FacilityMunk School of Global Affairs1 Devonshire PlaceUniversity of Toronto Scandinavian and Finnish Art Craft and Architecture Painting Politically National Romanticism and the Rise of Social DemocracyMichelle Facos Indiana UniversityBloomington1015 amIn the final decades of the nineteenth century progressive artists in Finland Norway and Sweden actively promoted a democratic egalitarian ethos consistent with that of William Morris as part of a broader movement toward Social Democracy. Equally urgent for Finns and Norwegians of course was national sovereignty. These varied objectives unified under the ideology of National Romanticism whose twin purpose was social solidarity and egalitarian political reform fostered by imagery that reminded compatriots of their common heritage and history. Michelle Facos was the first to introduce Anglophone audiences to Swedish National Romantic painting with her 1998 book Nationalism and the Nordic Imagination.