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The Laundress | musefully
Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri de. The Laundress, 1888. black and gray wash with white paint, scratched away in places, on gray cardboard prepared with white ground, Sheet: 75.9 x 63.1 cm (29 7/8 x 24 13/16 in.). Gift of the Hanna Fund, 1952.113. CC0.
The Laundress
1888
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864–1901)
Drawings
The Laundress, 1888. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864–1901). Black and gray wash with white paint, scratched away in places, on gray cardboard prepared with white ground; sheet: 75.9 x 63.1 cm (29 7/8 x 24 13/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the Hanna Fund 1952.113 A prolific illustrator, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec made this drawing as an illustration for an article about "Summer in Paris" published in Paris illustré, a magazine popular among the middle classes. Although the article singled out the laundress as a charming object of the male gaze on the city streets, the stooping posture and dark-circled eyes of the figure seen here give her a worn, tired appearance that invites comparison with the workhorse behind her. The drawing's sharp receding perspective emphasizes the act of street-level spectatorship and a man's top hat visible in the coach behind the woman alludes to her subservient social and sexual role. To create this drawing, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec painted a board white and then both scraped the material away in areas and drew with black ink to create a variety of tones throughout the image.