The Laundress: La Blanchisseuse de la place Dauphine

1894
(American, 1834–1903)
(British, 1861–1913)
Image: 23 x 15.7 cm (9 1/16 x 6 3/16 in.); Sheet: 27.5 x 20.1 cm (10 13/16 x 7 15/16 in.)
Catalogue raisonné: Way 58; AIC 93
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location: not on view

Download, Print and Share

Description

This print is one of several in which James McNeill Whistler depicted a laundry shop on Paris’s historic place Dauphine, near Notre Dame cathedral. As an American expatriate, Whistler was fascinated by the city’s storefronts and recorded them often. Here, he presents a scene that captivated many urban dwellers at the time: laundresses are seen through a doorway, their sleeves pushed up for work. The subject reflects a practice that Edgar Degas himself favored and which had become recognizable in his work, described by an early biographer as “strolling in the shadow of Paris’s streets, stop[ping] . . . before the boutiques of laundresses populating his neighborhood.”
The Laundress: La Blanchisseuse de la place Dauphine

The Laundress: La Blanchisseuse de la place Dauphine

1894

James McNeill Whistler, Thomas Robert Way

(American, 1834–1903), (British, 1861–1913)
America, 19th century

Visually Similar Artworks

Contact us

The information about this object, including provenance, may not be currently accurate. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@clevelandart.org.

To request more information about this object, study images, or bibliography, contact the Ingalls Library Reference Desk.

All images and data available through Open Access can be downloaded for free. For images not available through Open Access, a detail image, or any image with a color bar, request a digital file from Image Services.