When I Was a Little Girl - High Museum of Art

When I Was a Little Girl

Nellie Mae Rowe

American, 1900–1982

A woman in a long blue dress hands a child fruit; they are surrounded by two seated human figures and one flying overhead, all against a multicolored background including numbers and portraits.

Details

Title

When I Was a Little Girl

Artist/Maker

Nellie Mae Rowe (American, 1900–1982)

Date

1978

Medium

Crayon, marker, colored pencil, and pencil on paper

Dimensions

19 x 24 inches

Credit

Purchase with Folk Art Acquisition Fund

Accession #

2002.73

On View

Currently not on view

Rowe captures the thwarted artistic efforts of her childhood through a series of vignettes in this work: one version of herself as a child floats across the composition, attaching drawings to the walls of her bedroom. Because her homemade adhesive attracted rats, Rowe was punished, and her mother can be seen holding a reed in one hand and a sweet fruit for her daughter in the other at the picture’s center. One of the dolls that Rowe made from dirty laundry appears at right, waiting to be played with and ultimately undone on wash day.

Image Copyright

© Estate of Nellie Mae Rowe/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

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