Untitled

Artist Nellie Mae Rowe (American, 1900 - 1982)

Daten.d. (possibly ca. 1982)

MediumWax crayon or pencil and graphite over a graphite pencil underdrawing on cream wove paper torn from a spiral binding

DimensionsSheet: 18 × 23 3/4 inches (45.72 × 60.33 cm)

Credit LineGift of the Judith Alexander Foundation

Object number2023.26

InscribedOn the recto, "Nellie Mae Rowe" in wax crayon/pencil. All verso inscriptions are in graphite pencil: "JG" at upper right, and at lower right, vertically "300" and "302" horizontally.

On View

Not on view

Collections

Contemporary Art

Terms

DescriptionThis colorful horizontally oriented drawing with wax crayon or pencil and graphite features three full-body figures in profile (one who presents as male and two who present as female) and two profile busts with teal skin and red hair all situated in a highly imaginative scene that combines interior and exterior views. At the far left-hand side of the composition, there is wooden cabinet-like structure atop of which sits a red-and-blue basket filled with flowers or a plant with red blooms. To the right of the cabinet, seated on a brown wooden chair, is a dark-skinned man with a goatee. He wears a light blue-and-white cap that curls over in front of his forehead. His shirt is the same light blue. His white pants that stop at the knee are trimmed with blue as well. The man touches the foot of woman or girl who is seated above and to the right of him. She is smaller in scale than the man and wears a dark-and-light-blue bonnet and matching dress. While the left side of the scene appears to take place inside a domestic space, the right half of the composition seems to occur outdoors. A dark-haired woman with red lips and yellow-ish skin stands on what appears to be a path that winds through vegetation described with looping swirls. The woman, who faces left, is dressed in a red jacket and shirt and wears a short purple skirt. Her feet, like those of the other two figures are bare. The woman raises a bouquet of flowers in one hand towards the left side of the composition. She is flanked by the pair of aforementioned teal-colored busts (woman at the left and man and the right) that emerge from the path on which she stands. Above her and to her right, a large pink and red floral form extends over her head and down the right edge of the scene. The drawing is signed “Nellie Mae Rowe” in black at the lower right.Provenance

Provenance

Acquired from the artist by Judith Alexander (1932-2004), about 1982;

Transferred to The Judith Alexander Foundation, Decatur, GA, 2005;

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2023.

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