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Woman at the Spinning Wheel

1884
Not on view
Devoted to his native region of Artois in Northern France, Breton found success as a realist painter depicting rural life there. This elderly spinner appears in the lower left of his painting "Le Dernier Rayon" (The Last Ray of Sunshine), 1885 (current location unknown). Breton’s wife Elodie recorded that her husband began this drawing early in the morning on March 24, 1884, sketching a local woman by the name of Colette. The artist combined fabricated black crayons of various densities, using a remarkably assured, hard, thin line over a softer initial sketch. He depicts her looking over her shoulder while her hands continue her work. In the final composition, she glances toward family members returning home from their labor in the fields.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Woman at the Spinning Wheel
  • Artist: Jules Breton (French, Courrières 1827–1906 Paris)
  • Date: 1884
  • Medium: Fabricated black crayon
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 18 1/2 × 13 3/8 in. (47 × 34 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Jill Newhouse, 2017
  • Object Number: 2017.658
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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Armor, Odilon Redon French, Charcoal and conté crayon
Armor
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Aman-Jean (Portrait of Edmond François Aman-Jean), Georges Seurat French, Conté crayon on Michallet paper
Aman-Jean (Portrait of Edmond François Aman-Jean)
Georges Seurat
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The Connoisseur, Honoré Daumier French, Pen and ink, wash, watercolor, lithographic crayon, and gouache over black chalk on wove paper
The Connoisseur
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