“Woman at Clothesline,” a piece created by Alex Colville in 1957, is an exemplar of the Contemporary Realism movement, specifically in the genre of genre painting. The artwork portrays a moment of domestic life, capturing a woman engaged in the everyday task of laundry.
In the artwork, a woman stands in the foreground, clasping a white laundry basket filled with what appears to be freshly laundered clothes. She is dressed in a dark sleeveless dress, with her head wrapped in a white cloth, possibly to keep her hair in place while she works. Her demeanor is calm and composed as she gazes ahead. Behind her hangs a clothesline bearing white sheets, suggesting a tidy and methodical approach to her chores. The background features wooden panel siding of a house, and the ground is scattered with autumn leaves, indicating the season. The overall scene is rendered in meticulous detail, characteristic of the Contemporary Realism style.