The Laundress

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec · 1888

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec produced this drawing to illustrate an article about Parisian summers. It presents the type of poorly paid worker who remained in the city while others traveled to escape the urban heat. Because the image was to be reproduced in black and white, Toulouse-Lautrec thinned and brushed ink, scraping into it to expose fine white highlights. Like several artworks in Cleveland’s collection, the drawing was formerly owned by Roger Marx, a French collector, curator, and art critic who built perhaps the most substantial holdings of Toulouse-Lautrec’s work around the turn of the century.

Artist

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Date

1888

Medium

black and gray wash with white paint, scratched away in places, on gray cardboard prepared with white ground

Culture

France, 19th century

Dimensions

Sheet: 75.9 x 63.1 cm (29 7/8 x 24 13/16 in.)

Credit

Gift of the Hanna Fund

Open-access artwork courtesy of Cleveland Museum of Art. Mooseium is not affiliated with or endorsed by this institution.