Charles Clement 1889 1972 Washerwoman

This painting by Charles Clément is an impressionist or post-impressionist style oil painting, depicting a scene of everyday life with two figures in an urban environment. The scene shows two human figures engaged in an activity, probably related to washing. The background suggests an urban environment or a village, with bare buildings and trees, evoking a cold season or a sober setting. The colors are mostly earthy, with shades of brown, gray, blue and ochre, which gives a soft and somewhat melancholic atmosphere. The texture is thick and expressive, typical of a painting done with a knife or with a fragmented touch technique. In the background, painted with pale colors and a certain blur, creating an impression of depth. two trees stand, one on the left and another in the center, giving dynamism to the composition. The characters seem to be dressed in simple and dark outfits, which reinforces the idea of a humble or everyday scene. Their features are sketched without precision, which suggests an emphasis on atmosphere rather than on the realism of the faces. The use of lively, impasto brushstrokes creates a sense of movement and life. Studied at the Düsseldorf School of Fine Arts (1909). In 1927, left his family to settle in France, in Marseille and Paris, with one of his students, Anne Rosenfeld, who would become his second wife. He returned to Switzerland in 1933. Author of murals (Lausanne Cathedral, 1921; Arnex near Orbe, 1922) and 80 stained glass windows in French-speaking Switzerland, including stained glass windows in Lausanne Cathedral and the Saint-Etienne church in Moudon. Author with the writer Paul Budry of "Les Guerres de Bourgogne" (1926), considered one of the first art books in French-speaking Switzerland; produced etchings for "A Night in the Forest" by Blaise Cendrars (1929) and lithographs for the album Méditerranée, prefaced by André Malraux (1931). His daughter Marie-Helėne Fehr-Clément (1918-2012) is also a painter