The Wash-house (Le lavoir)
1891
Medium
etching [touched proof]
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.5593
Art Historical Context
Auguste Lepère's *The Wash-house (Leoir)*, created in 1891, a quintessential slice of rural French life at the turn of the century. As a master French engraver and illustrator (1849–1918), Lepère specialized in depicting everyday scenes with a keen eye for detail and atmosphere, often drawing from the naturalist tradition that celebrated ordinary people and places. This etching portrays a communal wash-house—a vital social hub in 19th-century villages where gathered to launder clothes by hand, reflecting the rhythms of pre-industrial labor and community bonds. Rendered as a "touched proof," t...
About the Artist
Auguste Lepère · 1849–1918
Auguste-Louis Lepère (1849–1918), son of the sculptor François Lepère, was born in Paris on November 30, 1849, into an artistic family that shaped his early path. At age thirteen, he apprenticed in the Paris studio of the English wood engraver Joseph Burn Smeeton, honing his skills in wood engraving until 1867. He furthered his training with drawing classes under Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran at the...