The art of laundry – Nick Higham

Speaker: Nick Higham, Journalist

Before the arrival of the washing machine, the tumble drier, modern water supply and efficient heaters, doing the laundry was one of the most arduous household tasks – almost always done by women. It was also essential for personal hygiene. Everywhere you looked you were likely to see laundrymaids and washerwomen – including in art. Former BBC arts correspondent Nick Higham surveys more than 400 years of paintings, prints and photographs of women who washed, and asks what they tell us about the artists who made them and the society they lived in.

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