Wash Line (1927): Art, History and Details

Wash Line (1927) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Edwin Kaufman (American, 1906–1939).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

In this work, nestled houses and a drifting laundry line evoke a domestic ambience that aligns with the American Scene movement. Although often associated with the Great Depression that would start a few years later, this movement emphasized the depiction of regional life, particularly in the Midwest, through easily legible images. The scene pictured here is likely set in or around Cleveland, where Edwin Kaufman lived at the time.

Object facts

• Title: Wash Line
• Date: 1927
• Creator attribution: Edwin Kaufman (American, 1906–1939)
• Culture: America, Ohio, Cleveland
• Type: Print
• Technique: etching
• Dimensions: Platemark: 9.9 x 13.2 cm (3 7/8 x 5 3/16 in.)
• Collection: PR - Etching
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1942.909

A detail from the museum

Kaufman later produced art for the Works Progress Administration, a government organization whose artists typically followed the American Scene style.

Collection credit

Gift of Robert Hays Gries

Further reading listed by the museum

• Edwin Kaufman Entry Card to 1928 May Show. Cleveland Museum of Art May Show Records, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.