The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 24, 2024

Returning from the Laundry

Returning from the Laundry

1912
(Swiss, 1859–1923)
Switzerland
color softground zinc etching and aquatint
Image: 39.9 x 44.2 cm (15 11/16 x 17 3/8 in.); Sheet: 58.8 x 44.2 cm (23 1/8 x 17 3/8 in.)
The Fanny Tewksbury King Collection 1956.736
Catalogue raisonné: Crauzat 41
Location: not on view

Description

An avowed socialist, Théophile Alexandre Steinlen made the inhabitants of Montmartre, the working-class Paris neighborhood where he lived, the subject of his prints. Here, three women lean with exhaustion while attempting to balance wrapped bundles of laundry that they have just washed. Their disengaged and unfocused expressions suggest both the physical and mental toll of their difficult labor and long hours. Given the affordability of Montmartre, laundresses were common there and often lived alongside artists such as Steinlen.
  • Salsbury, Britany. Degas and the Laundress: Women, Work, and Impressionism Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023. Reproduced: p. 133, no. 26
  • Degas and the Laundress: Women, Work, and Impressionism. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 8, 2023-January 14, 2024).
    Urban Vicissitudes. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 2-September 29, 1985).
    Promenades, Pageants, Processions, and Pilgrimages. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 25, 1981-January 3, 1982).
  • {{cite web|title=Returning from the Laundry|url=false|author=Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, Edmond D. Sagot|year=1912|access-date=24 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1956.736