Newsletter for Collectors - Vol 13.5

November 27, 2019

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Welcome

Welcome to another Luminous-Lint Newsletter.

Thanks for your support

Almost the holiday season so it is time for another Newsletter.

To all Luminous-Lint subscribers and contributors I'd like to say thanks for your continuing support.

Washing, laundry and hanging clothes out to dry

In the last Luminous-Lint Newsletter (Vol 13.04, October 24, 2019) I examined ladders and staircases. That overview showed how using a single object we can see patterns that run right through photohistory. In this newsletter I'll look at the domestic chore of washing, laundry and hanging clothes out to dry to show how similar changes can be seen over time.

Alan Griffiths, 18 November 2019, Screenshot of part of the "Washing, laundry and hanging clothes out to dry" visual index on Luminous-Lint, Luminous-Lint
LL/94601

Today's Monday, today's Monday, Monday is washing day
Is everybody happy? You bet your life we are!

Lyrics for "Today's Monday" by The Scaffold

The salt paper print made from a paper negative of Santa Lucia, Naples by Calvert Richard Jones in 1845 or 1846 is one of the earliest photographs I've seen of showing washing drying.

Calvert Richard Jones, "Santa Lucia, Naples", 1845-1846, Salted paper print, from paper negatives, 22.4 x 36.2 cm (8 13/16 x 14 1/4 ins, overall image), Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gilman Collection, Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2005, Accession Number: 2005.100.947a, b
LL/54204
Sometime between 1846-1852 John Ruskin and & Le Cavalier Iller took a 1/2 plate daguerreotype of Venice. Palazzo Gritti-Badoer with Laundry showing neat lines of washing festooning the square in front. In the nineteenth photographs showing laundry seem to predominantly come from Italy and were sold as tourist souvenirs.

John Ruskin & Le Cavalier Iller, "Venice. Palazzo Gritti-Badoer with Laundry", 1846-1852 (ca), Daguerreotype, 1/2 plate, Ken & Jenny Jacobson
LL/77074

Many photographers took these photographs including Alfredo Noack in Genova and Giacomo Brogi and Giorgio Sommer in Naples. Some of these albumen prints were hand-painted to create urban canyons with flag-like festive scenes.

Alfredo Noack, "Genova. I truogoli di Santa Brigida", 1880 (ca), Albumen print, hand-painted, Ebay, Seller: galeriephotovintage, Number: 401463334273
LL/94062
In the 1870s in France, the as yet unidentified photographer, Giraudon's Artist took photographs of rustic scenes that could be used by artists as the basis for drawings and paintings of rural tranquility. They were a visual resource sought by increasingly urban artists who were losing touch with rural life and yet longing for it in their artistic endeavors. A remembrance of rural things past, or passing, so to speak. These peaceful scenes of domestic chores can be seen in Girl washing clothes (1870s) in the private collection of David McGreevy and Two Female Peasants, one standing, doing laundry (1870s) in the Nelson-Atkins Museum (Object number: 2009.6.72).

Giraudon's Artist, Girl washing clothes, 1870s, Albumen print, Private collection of David McGreevy
LL/63810
It would be simplistic to conclude that the motivations of the Pictorialists in their pursuit of laundry scenes were the same as those of Giraudon's Artist but there are similarities of setting and mood. Notable Pictorialists including Heinrich Kühn, Alexander Wilson Hill, Charles Roblot and Alfred Stieglitz all of whom made gum prints, bromoil transfer prints and gelatin silver prints of washing.

This was approximately the same period that the Impressionists were painting scenes of contemporary everyday life rather than historical and religious tableaux.

Heinrich Kühn, "Holländische Wäscherin", 1900 (ca), Gum print (Gummidruck), 53.3 x 73.7 cm, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe / MKG, Inventory number: AB1988.774
LL/65305
As popular taste rebelled against candy-box nostalgia after the mechanised horrors of the First World War so Pictorialism gave way to the realism of Modernism and more experimental approaches.

It would be interesting to seek out experimental laundry photographs so do let me know if you can think of some examples.

Walker Evans in his gelatin silver print Wash Day, New York City, taken before October 1930, explored a series of washing lines with the different fabrics shading from white to black forming patterns of gradation (National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, No. 21771).

Walker Evans, "Wash Day, New York City", 1930, October (before), Gelatin silver print, 29.1 x 20.6 cm, National Gallery of Canada, Purchased 1980, No. 21771, © Walker Evans Archive, Metropolitan Museum of Art
LL/63589
In Bermondsey Night taken in May 1937 by Bill Brandt we have a rare example of a night photograph of washing left out to dry.

Bill Brandt, "Bermondsey Night", 1937, May, Gelatin silver print, 10 x 8, Silverstein Photography
LL/259
One could do a fascinating exhibition or book on the photography of washing, laundry and hanging clothes out to dry as there are so many diverse approaches to explore.

Werner Bischof, "Korean War. Island of Koje Do. A camp for North Korean prisoners of war. Laundry hanging on the barbed wire. South Korea (PAR8528)", 1952, Gelatin silver contemporary print, Silverstein Photography
LL/214

Suggestions for additional photographs are always welcome.

NOTE: If you know the identity of Giraudon's Artist please let me know.

Thematic historical grids in photography

In examining the theme of 'ladders and staircases' that was addressed in the last newsletter and the theme of 'washing, laundry and hanging clothes out to dry' that is covered in this one it becomes clear that thematic historical grids may aid our understanding.

By creating grids that break the history of photography into the diverse themes and cross matching individual photographs with the schools or movements of the time visual similarities and differences would become immediately apparent.

Has anybody already done this?

So who has been involved in Luminous-Lint to date?

Given the scale of Luminous-Lint it is difficult to remember all the names of those who have helped in ways both large and small. Having said that one should always try so I‘ve added an "Acknowledgements" page to get the ball rolling. As you go through it you will get a sense of the truly international scope of this project.

My gratitude to you all for subscribing to, and supporting, Luminous-Lint.

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Getting around

Stereographs Project

Library

Video feeds, audio feeds, and enhanced media documents

Welcome

Thanks for your support

Washing, laundry and hanging clothes out to dry

Thematic historical grids in photography

So who has been involved in Luminous-Lint to date?

Free Trial of Luminous-Lint

Educational subscriptions

Recently updated Themes

Getting around

PhotographersConnectionsDirectory

Stereographs Project

Library

Video feeds, audio feeds, and enhanced media documents

Welcome

Thanks for your support

Washing, laundry and hanging clothes out to dry

Thematic historical grids in photography

So who has been involved in Luminous-Lint to date?

Free Trial of Luminous-Lint

Educational subscriptions

Recently updated Themes