"The Washer Women" by Abram Efimovich Arkhipov 1899.

There are two versions of “The Washer Women” done by Abram Efimovich Arkhipov (1862-1930) in 1899. He was a poor Russian realist painter who often drew women in harsh conditions. The main theme of his work was Russian Women working. He paid particular attention to the light, rhythm, and the texture in his work. He had shown a love for painting at an early age and won many awards at school for his artwork. He was a part of the Union of Russian Artists and The Wanderers. He was titled People’s Artist of the USSR.

In the First Version of the painting he shows many peasant women working to clean the village’s laundry. He painted from real life washhouses for his models. He went to many different washhouses searching for the perfect model and when he finally found her, he was almost finished with the painting. He ended up redesigning the entire painting using this perfect model which was an old woman sitting hunched over exhausted in the corner. The women all look defeated and rugged. Based on a series of studies he did on life in the wash-house, he depicts the harshness and inhumaneness that women dealt with. He uses an ultra-realist muted color palette in these two paintings. He uses sfumato to produce soft transitions between the colors, tones, and shadows. The light coming in from the small window in the back highlights the harsh steam coming up from under their hands as they wash the clothing. Many of the details stay the same in both painting such as their hair being tightly tied back and the woman in the back. The women are all working in the first painting whereas the second one focuses on an elderly woman talking a break. There is less color and it is more zoomed in than the first. These peasant women were expected to work hard in the searing heat for very little. Arkhipov’s paintings are very realistic. This was an important piece in history revealing much about the conditions in the USSR during this time by showing the truth behind the closed doors of the washhouses. Women at that time were not able to get a good job. Women were “not capable” of doing a man’s work so when they did get a job, the conditions were harsh. The hours were long and the steam was hot, however women were making a statement by working. His work can be found mostly in the Tretyakov Gallery and the Byelorussian Museum of Art in Minsk.


Abram Efimovich Arkhipov, The Washer Women, http://www.thefamousartists.com/arkhipov/the-washer-women

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