Degas and the Laundress: Women, Work, and Impressionism

One of the most captivating objects on display in the recent exhibition Degas and the Laundress: Women, Work, and Impressionism was a small, creased, and slightly discolored rectangle of paper, surrounded by a simple gold frame, placed near the threshold between the first and second rooms (fig.1).This printed sheet of paper was a working document, a personalized lithographic template completed in ink with a careful script, its lower edge unevenly torn and a tiny stray dot of ink near its center.The paper had, at some point, been folded, perhaps to be placed in an envelope or a pocket.Across the top are the words "Melle.Gaubier" and "blanchisseuse de fin" (laundress of fine cloths) surrounded by several flourishing curls and with the address "21, Rue de Navarin, 21." Dated to July 18, 1868, the document is a receipt of assorted clothing cleaned at Mlle Gaubier's boutique de blanchissage and their respective prices, including three men's shirts, a woman's shirt, two petticoats, and six handkerchiefs, among other items.Placed on the wall of the exhibition alongside this humble, quotidian document were two works by Edgar Degas depicting the figure of the laundress: the oil on canvas painting La Repasseuse (Woman Ironing; fig.2) and the oil on paper study La Blanchisseuse (The Laundress; Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Wellesley).Both are dated to around 1869, the year after the receipt was issued by Mlle Gaubier, when Degas turned to the subject of the laundress as part of his exploration of modern life in the city of Paris.Although Mlle Gaubier's establishment was near Degas's studio, the artist sought out his favorite model to play at the role of laundress.It was Emma