The American artist Nellie Mae Rowe (1900-82) was in her sixties—twice widowed, and retired from decades of domestic service—when she began to transform her Atlanta home into what she called her “playhouse,” filling it, inside and out, with her found-object assemblages, enchanting soft sculptures, and colorful drawings (including “Nellie in Her Garden,” from 1978-82, above). On Sept. 2, the exhibition “Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe” opens at the Brooklyn Museum.
The Colorful Art of Nellie Mae Rowe
The artist, who was in her sixties when she began to fill her Atlanta home with her assemblages, sculptures, and drawings, is the subject of “Really Free,” a new exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum.
Art work by Nellie Mae Rowe / © Estate of Nellie Mae Rowe / ARS / Courtesy High Museum of Art
