Handsewn Dollc. 198025 x 20 x 6 1/2 "Ink and crayon on fabric body, with velvet shirt, short petticoat, and wig; paint on child-size wood chairGift of Judith Alexander2001.6.1015421829462001.6.1A,BNellie Mae RoweToys and GamesSculpture© Estate of Nellie Mae Rowe / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkViningsViningsUnited StatesGeorgiaThree Dimensional WorksVinings
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.orgNellie Mae Rowe was a Vinings, Georgia, artist who is renowned today for drawings and sculpture that reveal a joy in life and all its magic. Rowe’s imagery is largely derived from the natural world, but it is also deeply rooted in vernacular culture and often includes folk figures such as “haints.” In addition to her drawings (usually in jewel-tone crayon) and sculpture (using unorthodox materials such as chewing gun), she fashioned dolls to populate the elaborate interior and exterior environment she called her “playhouse.” She fashioned approximately two dozen dolls from clothing remnants and T-shirts, and embellished them using wigs, costume jewelry, and Magic Markers. After her second husband, Henry Rowe, died following a long illness, the dolls served as companions and helped dispel the loneliness she experienced. Many of Rowe’s drawings, dolls, collages, and altered photographs are autobiographical, especially those executed in the last years of her life. The works that she created throughout 1982 seem to hint at her impending death; for years she had known that she had cancer. As revealed through her artworks, Rowe’s mood at the end of her life evolved from puzzlement and worry to acceptance and even joy at the prospect of entering a wonderful “promised land.”
2001.6.1A,B19751985 2001 6 1
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.orgNellie Mae Rowe was a Vinings, Georgia, artist who is renowned today for drawings and sculpture that reveal a joy in life and all its magic. Rowe’s imagery is largely derived from the natural world, but it is also deeply rooted in vernacular culture and often includes folk figures such as “haints.” In addition to her drawings (usually in jewel-tone crayon) and sculpture (using unorthodox materials such as chewing gun), she fashioned dolls to populate the elaborate interior and exterior environment she called her “playhouse.” She fashioned approximately two dozen dolls from clothing remnants and T-shirts, and embellished them using wigs, costume jewelry, and Magic Markers. After her second husband, Henry Rowe, died following a long illness, the dolls served as companions and helped dispel the loneliness she experienced. Many of Rowe’s drawings, dolls, collages, and altered photographs are autobiographical, especially those executed in the last years of her life. The works that she created throughout 1982 seem to hint at her impending death; for years she had known that she had cancer. As revealed through her artworks, Rowe’s mood at the end of her life evolved from puzzlement and worry to acceptance and even joy at the prospect of entering a wonderful “promised land.”