My house is Clean Enought to Be healty and it dirty Enought to Be happy
Nellie Mae Rowe
American, 1900–1982
![A large blue, red, and orange rooster faces a humanlike figure holding a yellow box; several creatures and plants surround them; text above reads “My house is Clean enough to Be healthy and it dirty Enough to Be happy.”](https://dlc.services/iiif-img/16/6/15461_1678475966066/full/1024,783/0/default.jpg)
Details
Title
My house is Clean Enought to Be healty and it dirty Enought to Be happy
Artist/Maker
Nellie Mae Rowe (American, 1900–1982)
Date
1978–1982
Medium
Crayon and pencil on paper
Dimensions
18 x 24 inches
Credit
Gift of Judith Alexander
Accession #
2003.146
On View
Currently not on view
“I kept house long enough, I don’t want to be bothered by nobody ’cept self,” was how Rowe put her decision not to marry for a third time nor to seek further employment as a domestic worker. She got a kick out of household goods that cleverly and joyfully articulated the easing of domestic duties, like a napkin she saw at her niece’s that bore the phrase that is the title of this work.
Image Copyright
© Estate of Nellie Mae Rowe/High Museum of Art, Atlanta.