A Woman Ironing 1873

Edgar Degas made "A Woman Ironing" with oil on canvas, using the traditional fine art materials to depict a decidedly un-genteel subject. The visible brushstrokes, the quick application of paint, gives us a sense of the repetitive labor the woman is engaged in. The materiality of the painting, with its emphasis on process, draws a parallel between the artist’s work and that of the laundress. The lack of detail in her face makes the figure anonymous, almost a stand-in for the countless working women supporting the growth of industrial capitalism through the drudgery of domestic labor. Degas was obviously interested in the material conditions of modern life, in this case offering an oblique commentary on the social structures that undergirded Parisian society. By representing this woman and her labor in this way, Degas challenges our assumptions about what is worthy of aesthetic attention.