Lavanderas

Dan Lutz
Lavanderas
Oil on canvas, c. 1955
43 x 53 inches
Gift of Rich and Sandy Shapero
2003.013

Rendered in a limited palette of deep blues, reds, and white, Lavanderas (laundress) is an outstanding example of Los Angeles painter Dan Lutz’s bold, colorful style. In the composition of forms, there is perhaps a relationship to the artist’s great love for music. The dancing clothes might be interpreted as notes on a musical score, with the clotheslines representing the staffs. As she reaches up in her task, the woman gestures almost like a conductor.