Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe at the High Museum

"What it is" (1978-1982)

I'm sure you've experienced that phenomenon when you learn a new word and you suddenly see it everywhere. Well that's been happening to me lately -- but instead of a new word, it's the art of Nellie Mae Rowe. What a happy expansion of my artistic vocabulary! 

When I got off the plane in Atlanta, Sarah whisked me directly to The High Museum, where we made a beeline for the Nellie Mae Rowe exhibit. I'd seen Rowe's art online while doing my pre-trip research, and I had quickly fallen in love with her story and her art. Seriously, just look at her attitude in this self-portrait. The hands on the hips is what really puts me over the top. The title of the painting is both a reference to a common way Rowe and her friends greeted each other and to her response when people asked her what she depicted in her artwork. "Most of the things that I draw, I don't know what they are by name," she said. "People say, 'Nellie, what is that?' I say I don't know, it is what it is." Her response is such a nice change from the intellectual explanations many artists give about their work. But once again I'm getting ahead of myself.

"My house is clean Enought to Be healty and
it dirty Enought to Be happy" (1978-1982)

Nellie Mae Rowe was born in 1900 on a farm in Fayette County, Georgia. She was the ninth of ten children. Her childhood wasn't the type where you took art lessons. Instead, when she was done picking cotton in the fields, she'd pick up a pencil and draw. She also began making dolls from fabric she found around the house when she was just ten years old. (Sometimes the dolls had very short lives as she created them from dirty clothes waiting to be washed.) It wasn't until Nellie was in her late 60s -- having survived two husbands and 30 years as a maid -- that she turned to her art in earnest. You can see by the name of this painting that her work gave Nellie a great perspective. 

"Untitled (The Angel and the Devil's Boot" (1978)

Rowe created her work on whatever was available in her home -- shoe boxes and recycled paper and pancake mix lids. One work in the exhibit was done on a Sara Lee pound cake lid.  It was only after her art came to the attention of gallerist Judith Alexander that she began to work on canvases, which Alexander provided. Alexander was the kind of advocate all artists need.

Painting on canvas rather than cardboard and the like didn't change the way Rowe created her art. She didn't paint with acrylics or oils (although she would occasionally use gouache, a type of watercolor). Instead, she used crayons and pens and colored pencils. I can picture her with a big smile and Crayola Crayons strewn in front of her. In some works, areas are scribbled with crayon in just the way a child would make art. She wasn't creating art to impress the critics but to find joy.  

"Untitled (Atlanta's Missing Children, 
Figure with Headdress)" (1981)

Most of Rowe's works were done without any particular idea in mind. She said she was just "following her line." Her approach harkens back to the surrealists' embrace of automatism, or automatic drawings. The idea was to just let your subconscious decide what to create. 

Still, there were paintings in which Rowe was purposeful in her depiction. In "Untitled (Atlanta's Missing Children, Figure with Headdress)," Rowe refers to the murders of 29 Black children, adolescents and adults in Atlanta in 1979-1981. Instead of a graphic portrayal of the murders, Rowe referred to the violence in code, using animals and vignettes. The wall card notes that the central figure is pulling his coat back like a flasher, a possible reference to the sexual element of the crimes. Rowe painted a second work on the subject that was not in the exhibit. Click here to see this painting, owned by the Met, and read about the symbols Rowe employed. 

The Playhouse

Rowe did more than create art to hang on walls in her house. Her entire property became her canvas. She called it The Playhouse. It is described by the Vinings Historic Preservation Society as follows:  "There were handmade chewing gum sculptures on the fence posts, drawings affixed to the house, large dolls sitting in chairs, and other objects, such as dinnerware hung from trees, Christmas ornaments and plastic images of Jesus." The Playhouse was not without controversy. But it eventually became a tourist attraction, with more than 800 people touring the house and the yard between 1973 and 1975. Rowe was always happy to share her creativity with others. For an article discussing the African-American tradition of "dressed yards," click here. 

"This Worl is Not My Home" (1979)

I'm so captivated by the art of Nellie Mae Rowe that I could go on and on. But I'll leave you here with some links if you want to go down a few rabbit holes on your own. Click here to go to the Judith Alexander Foundation page on Rowe and her art. It's worth noting that most of the High Museum's collection of Rowe's art came from Alexander, who left 130 works by Nellie to the Museum when she died.  For a great article in which Rowe talks about her life, click here. Click here for a link to the High Museum's suite of digital resources about the exhibit.  And if you're in New York, stop by the Morgan Library and Museum to check out "Another Tradition: Drawings from Black Artists from the American South." The exhibit includes works by Rowe. 

"Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe" will be on display at the High Museum through January 9, 2022.  If you miss the exhibit, you can always see her art on display at the High in its own room in the Folk and Self-Taught Art section of the Museum. 

Happy exploring!