Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe

 

Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe

 

I Have A Ride At Last


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Object Details


Artist/Maker

Nellie Mae Rowe, American, 1900–1982

Date

1982

Medium

Crayon and marker on paper

Dimensions

Image/Sight: 19 x 24 inches (48.3 cm x 61 cm) Framed/Mounted: 17 1/4 x 21 1/4 x 1 1/4 inches (43.8 cm x 54 cm x 3.2 cm)

Credit

Purchase with Folk Art Acquisition Fund

Accession #

2003.99

Image Copyright

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

Description

Dogs frequently appear in Nellie Mae Rowe’s art. Some have noted the similarity between the dog in this work, with its full headdress, and Anubis, the Egyptian God of the afterlife, who was part canine, part man. An Egyptian motif recurs in the small figure who wears what looks like a Pharaonic headdress to the right of the central dog. Rowe’s interest in the spirit world could have informed her awareness of the dog’s role as a spiritual mediator in ancient Egyptian culture.