Explore CollectionsFolk and Self-Taught ArtUntitled (Male Figure with Haint)

Untitled (Male Figure with Haint)

Nellie Mae Rowe

American, 1900–1982

Crayon drawing of a standing, orange-colored figure at right, wearing a blue outfit and looking at a purple and green ghost that resembles a peacock at left.

Details

Title

Untitled (Male Figure with Haint)

Artist/Maker

Nellie Mae Rowe (American, 1900–1982)

Date

before 1978

Medium

Crayon and pencil on folder divider

Dimensions

Support/Overall: 11 x 8 1/2 inches (27.9 cm x 21.6 cm) Framed/Mounted: 21 1/4 x 17 1/4 x 1 1/4 inches (54 cm x 43.8 cm x 3.2 cm)

Credit

Gift of Judith Alexander

Accession #

1998.95

Location

Currently not on view

The figure on the left in this drawing is a “haint,” or haunt, a Gullah dialect word for a type of evil spirit or being. Tales of haints flourished in the Gullah culture of the South Carolina Lowcountry but are also found in other regions of the South. “Haint blue” is a pale, green-tinted shade of blue meant to mimic the appearance of sky or water and often painted on the ceilings and around doors and windows on Southern houses to ward off these unfriendly spirits. The male figure in this composition sports a boastful expression next to a paradoxically blue haint with crazed eyes, indicating that the man has somehow outsmarted the trickster spirit.

Image Copyright

© Estate of Nellie Mae Rowe/High Museum of Art, Atlanta.

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