Nellie Mae Rowe

Nellie Mae Rowe (1900–1982), Empty Chair, 1981

Pencil, crayon, pastel, on paper, 18 x 23 3/4 in.; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation

In Empty Chair, the adult Nellie Mae Rowe, dressed in red, turns away from a celebratory tree of life surrounded by birds and animals. She looks toward death, summed up as her past and future: above the empty chair is the specter of young Nellie Mae in the green pasture, flanked by two nose-diving birds. Below the tree of life, a bird plucks the berries from a potted plant or fruit basket.