ticketsMember | Make a donation

Atlanta's Missing Children

1981
Not on view
Rowe’s fantastical and densely coded Atlanta’s Missing Children responds to the murders of at least eighteen children and six adults, events that terrorized the city between 1979 and 1981. While she often depicted animals in a benign or playful manner, the central blue creature of this piece is decidedly menacing, due in part to its bared teeth and cloven hooves. Like Thornton Dial, Rowe used animals as symbols or avatars in her work, making her drawings (perhaps deliberately) difficult to interpret. Here, the blue creature could serve as an avatar for Wayne Williams, the man accused of the murders and thus a form of predator.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Atlanta's Missing Children
  • Artist: Nellie Mae Rowe (American, Fayetteville, Georgia 1900–1982 Smyrna, Georgia)
  • Date: 1981
  • Medium: Commercial paint, crayon, oil pastel, graphite, ink marker, and cut and pasted paper on paperboard
  • Dimensions: 32 × 30 in. (81.3 × 76.2 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Souls Grown Deep Foundation from the William S. Arnett Collection, 2014
  • Object Number: 2014.548.30
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

More Artwork

More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
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
Empty Chair, Nellie Mae Rowe American, Crayon, wax crayon and graphite with pastel on paper
Empty Chair
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
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

Related Content

Publications

Books, guides, and catalogues published by The Met.

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.