Empty Chair

Nellie Mae Rowe American

Not on view

The artist reflects on her own mortality in Empty Chair. A female figure in a matching red hat and shirt, a surrogate for the painter, gazes upon a younger version of herself that hovers over an empty chair suggesting absence and loss. The older incarnation turns away from a Tree of Life flanked by a peaceful menagerie. Rowe’s complicated symbolic language frees her drawings from any fixed meaning or singular interpretation, allowing the viewer to meditate on the narrative and metaphorical possibilities embedded within each piece.

Empty Chair, Nellie Mae Rowe (American, Fayetteville, Georgia 1900–1982 Smyrna, Georgia), Graphite, crayon, and pastel on paper

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