A Woman's Work

A Woman's Work — John Sloan. 1912.

Medium: oil on canvas. Dimensions: Framed: 97.2 x 82.2 x 6.4 cm (38 1/4 x 32 3/8 x 2 1/2 in.); Unframed: 80.3 x 65.4 cm (31 5/8 x 25 3/4 in.).

Collection record: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

Trained as a journalist, the young Sloan explored social issues more vigorously than most of the painters of his time, portraying working-class urbanites engaged in ordinary activities. He observed this particular scene through a rear window of his Manhattan apartment. Perched on a narrow fire escape, a woman hangs fresh laundry to dry on clotheslines strung between tenements. As evidenced by the painting, the labors of American women at the turn of the 1900s were most often confined to the domestic realm.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.