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Empty Chair

1981
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.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Empty Chair
  • Artist: Nellie Mae Rowe (American, Fayetteville, Georgia 1900–1982 Smyrna, Georgia)
  • Date: 1981
  • Medium: Crayon, wax crayon and graphite with pastel on paper
  • Dimensions: 18 in. × 23 13/16 in. (45.7 × 60.5 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Souls Grown Deep Foundation from the William S. Arnett Collection, 2014
  • Object Number: 2014.548.32
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Woman Scolding Her Companion, Nellie Mae Rowe American, Oil pastel, crayon, colored pencil, black porous-point pen, and graphite on board
Woman Scolding Her Companion
Nellie Mae Rowe
1981
Nellie's Birthday, Nellie Mae Rowe American, Colored pencil, crayon, and graphite on paper
Nellie's Birthday
Nellie Mae Rowe
1981
Humpy (Hubert Humphrey), Nellie Mae Rowe American, Wax crayon and graphite with red porous-point pen on paper
Humpy (Hubert Humphrey)
Nellie Mae Rowe
1978
Atlanta's Missing Children, Nellie Mae Rowe American, Commercial paint, crayon, oil pastel, graphite, ink marker, and cut and pasted paper on paperboard
Atlanta's Missing Children
Nellie Mae Rowe
1981
I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold, Charles Demuth American, Oil, graphite, ink, and gold leaf on paperboard (Upson board)
I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold
Charles Demuth
1928

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