Curriculum Materials: Art in America
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Image 23 Clementine Hunter Questions: |
The Wash
Hunter's painting The Wash depicts three women doing the plantation laundry at a time when clothes were still boiled outside and scrubbed with lye soap. Rich yellow fields, lush green trees, and a brilliant green-blue sky surround them. Hunter described the figures and forms in broad patches of color with virtually no MODELING in lights and darks. The pure bright colors convey a sense of joy. To suggest distance, she placed objects above one another. The clothesline, house, and tree appear to hover above the women's heads.
Hunter packs the painting with
details of activity, setting, and clothing. Standing on a
grassy ledge, a woman with graying hair smokes a pipe while
she stirs the laundry boiling in a large black pot. To her
left and right, the other women scrub against boards. They
wear colorful straw hats, long skirts, and aprons, one with
a bright red patch. Behind the women, red and blue union
suits and bright white towels hang on the line.
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