<I>Hello USA</I>
date: label: Date
content: 1981
name: label: Created by
content: Nellie Mae Rowe, American, 1900 - 1982
label: Subject of
content: The White House, founded 1792
notes: label: Description
content: This gouache on paper painting features a representation of the White House set against a solidly black background. The painting’s orange, white, and red imagery includes animals, trees, and an American flag. The scene has been drawn in pencil on white paper and painted over with gouache.
label: Description
content: The flag is on the far-right side of the painting and is red and white striped with the white canton placed slightly left of center. The canton has fifteen silver [x] shapes instead of stars drawn across its surface with large, centered silver text that reads [U S A]. The flag is waving above two windows of the White House, which is otherwise not visible in the black background. In front of the building is a fence and sidewalk lined with a row of obelisk shaped stanchions mostly drawn in perspective. There are five shorter obelisks that have black pyramidions, while the fifth, which is taller and stands second from the left, has a white pyramidion. The sidewalk in front of the stanchions is white that has been lightly shaded orange and outlined in pencil. The artist’s name and date are written in pencil inside the squares of the sidewalk and reads, [NELLiE MAE] and [ROWE 1981]. On the far left is a depiction of a tree with tendril like branches in black and red set against a white background that forms the outline of the foliage. Below the tree is a stylized, anthropomorphic figure with legs and upraised arms and with a tall, thin, house shaped torso with a white sloping roof. At the center of the figure is a white square and a white leaf plant that appears to be growing from the top of the square. Above the figure are several birds painted light red, red, and orange, a sprig of orange foliage with a red bud in the center, and an orange-shaded snake-like figure above the word [HELLO] in dark orange. In the background is a small tree with black foliage outlined in white and there is large red long neck bird in the bottom right corner of the painting. On the verso is [344] handwritten in graphite along with a white typewritten label with information on the work.
place: label: Place made
content: Vinings, Cobb County, Georgia, United States, North and Central America
label: Place captured
content: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Activism
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Government
label: Topic
content: Race relations
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of The Judith Alexander Foundation
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2023.68
objectType: label: Type
content: gouaches
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © Nellie Mae Rowe
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: gouache on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 18 1/8 × 24 1/16 × 1/16 in. (46 × 61.1 × 0.1 cm)