Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe

 

Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe

 

God is Not Dead. You Just Do Your Best


Cursive handwriting in bright blue and lime green: “God is not dead you just do your best and he will do the rest Just try him he is all Right.”

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Object Details


Artist/Maker

Nellie Mae Rowe, American, 1900–1982

Date

1974–1978

Medium

Crayon and pencil on paper

Dimensions

11 x 8 1/2 inches

Credit

Gift of Judith Alexander

Accession #

2003.298

Image Copyright

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

Description

Rowe frequently included text in her work, sometimes incorporating it as a carefully designed pictorial element and other times as a caption or narrative explaining the action in a scene. She often wrote messages of spiritual praise, especially because she believed her artistic talent came from God. In some of her drawings from 1982, the year she passed away, she used her writing to embed messages of farewell.