Art of Nellie Mae Rowe

About this book

The Art of Nellie Mae Rowe: Ninety-Nine and a Half Won't Do, written by Lee Kogan, with a foreword by Gerard C. Wertkin, director of the Museum of American Folk Art, and an introduction by Kinshasha Holman Conwill, director of The Studio Museum in Harlem, is the first major book to explore the full range of creativity and technical virtuosity of Nellie Mae Rowe, a self-taught artist from Vinings, Georgia. This beautiful volume is illustrated with 84 full-color reproductions of the artist's work, plus black-and-white contextual photographs. Born in Fayetteville, Georgia, in 1900, Nellie Mae Rowe lived her entire life in a rural area on the fringes of Atlanta. The daughter of a former slave who worked as a farmer, blacksmith, and basket maker to support his family of nine girls and one boy, Rowe showed an early interest in and talent for art. Her artistic endeavors increased after the death of her second husband, Henry Rowe, in 1948, and she continued to create until a few months before her death in 1982. Her vibrant works filled with shotgun houses, small churches, flowers, trees, farm animals, and engaging people incorporate memories of a southern environment and virtually pulse with sensuality and spiritual verve.