Washerwomen Descending a Quai Staircase
1888
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
About the artist
Artist
Alexandre Lunois
Alexandre Lunois (1863–1916) was a French artist, born in Paris.
See the richer artist page1888
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Washerwomen Descending a Quai Staircase is a 1888 by Alexandre Lunois, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a steep staircase by the river, two women in long skirts carrying laundry bundles down the steps. Lunois made this as a print, not a painting. Prints were still new for artists in the 1880s—most used them just to copy paintings, but he treated it like its own art. He borrowed the scene from an older painting by Daumier, then added sharper shadows on the women’s faces. Look up *chiaroscuro* next—it’s how artists use strong light and dark to shape a scene.
Alexandre Lunois worked extensively in lithography, a relatively recent invention during his time that was rarely used by artists, making both reproductive and original works. This print reinterprets Honoré Daumier’s Washerwomen of the Quai d’Anjou , an 1850 canvas depicting laundresses carrying heavy bundles on a staircase adjacent to Paris’s Seine River. Although Lunois worked closely from Daumier’s painting, he reinterpreted some details, such as the shadows on the woman’s face, emphasizing the strenuousness of her labor.
An impression of this print was selected for display at the prestigious annual exhibition of the Société des Artistes Français in 1888.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Alexandre Lunois (1863–1916) was a French artist, born in Paris.
See the richer artist pageYour cart is empty
Explore artworks →
