Laundress 

Kazimir Malevich made this drawing of a laundress sometime in the early 20th century, with pencil on paper. The very simplicity of the materials is striking. The stark lines and shading, quickly laid down, show a woman hard at work. We see her hunched over a tub, the barest suggestion of water and cloth beneath her hands. A bucket sits nearby, the only other element in the composition. There is a great deal of labor concentrated into a single, physically arduous act. The drawing makes visible the ways that labor, class, and gender are intertwined, showing the raw, physical demands of labor. By using such a direct, almost brutal approach, Malevich collapses any perceived hierarchy between fine art and the everyday realities of working women. He reminds us that art can, and perhaps should, engage with the world in all its gritty detail.