Degas and the Laundress: Women, Work, and the Avant-Garde in 19th-Century Paris

view slideshow

Degas and the Laundress: Women, Work, and the Avant-Garde in 19th-Century Paris

Virginia and Ira Jackson Lecture
Speaker: Britany Salsbury, associate curator of prints and drawings, the Cleveland Museum of Art

Edgar Degas (1834–1917) depicted Parisian laundresses in paintings, drawings, and prints throughout his long career. These working-class women were a visible presence in the French capital, washing and ironing in shops open to the street or carrying heavy baskets of clothing—some of the most difficult and poorly paid work at the time. The industry fascinated Degas, and his representations of laundresses were revolutionary in the emphasis on women’s work, the strenuousness of such labor, and social class. 

This lecture examines the development of Degas’s interest in the subject and the significant role it played in 19th-century popular culture and avant-garde art, including that of practitioners from Berthe Morisot and Auguste Renoir to Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and even Pablo Picasso.

Plan Your Visit Admission to the talk is free with seating on a first-come, first-served basis in Brown Auditorium Theater, located in the Law Building. On Thursdays, the Museum is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. with free general admission.

Safety Guidelines In the interest of your personal safety and community health, please observe all precautions set forth by the MFAH—learn more here.

About the Speaker Before joining the Cleveland Museum of Art, Britany Salsbury was associate curator of prints and drawings at the Milwaukee Art Museum, where she organized exhibitions including Degas to Picasso: Creating Modernism in France and Daring Technique: Goya and the Art of Etching.