The Laundry

This atmospheric print depicts two female laundry workers ironing sheets by lamp light. By 1931 there were 1500 commercial laundries in Greater London employing 50,000 workers, 80% of whom were women. The laundries varied in size from the cottage laundries employing a few women and undertaking mainly family washing to the large power & steam laundries who employed several hundred workers and held contracts for hotels, restaurants and department stores. A quarter of London's laundries were located in Acton, Wandsworth, Kensington, Willesdon & Islington.

A painter, printmaker and teacher, Pauline Baumann was particularly noted for her etchings, engravings and lithographs. She lived in London and studied at St. Martin's School of Art and the Royal College of Arts.