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A Monthly Culture Matrix For the Cosmopolitan Traveler

Call Me By My Name


Munch Museum / Oslo / Art

In Oslo, in 1916, Edvard Munch went to Hagenbeck’s Circus and met a man named Sultan Abdul Karem. Of African origins, Karem was immortalized in a number of portraits by Munch, but when the group of paintings was exhibited none of the titles identified Karem by name. Instead, Munch referred to him as “Negro.” In “Call Me By My Name,” the Munch museum displays all the Karem portraits together for the first time, and analyzes the inherent racism of their titles—which, by the way, are being changed. —E.C.

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Munch Museum Tøyengata 53, 0578 Oslo, Norway
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