Washtub Gossip

George Biddle

1928

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This black and white photograph represents an African American man seated in a chair next to a made bed. Immediately behind him is a chest of drawers with a mirror on top. He holds a crutch in his hands. Two photographs and a jar sit on top of a piece of cloth on top of the chest of drawers. Two bundles of objects hang on the wall above the mirror. Near the bundle at the right of the image hangs a monthly calendar, as well. Below the calendar is a radiator, which is also draped with a cloth and has a few objects on top of it. On the floor of the room is a rug.
This painting represents a coastline, with land extending from the right edge of the canvas into surrounding water. The water and reflections from the land are the foreground of the composition. The land is in the middle ground, with a canoe manned by a single figure docked on the shore. The land emerges from the water as a sloping hill, and on top of the hill is an elevated storage structure (a cache). Beyond the land is a mountain landscape, painted primarily in purple and white.
Mirror Lake, Yosemite, Herman Herzog, oil on canvas
Black and white image of trunk and arms of a person wearing workman's overalls standing amid sandy soil background. The individual holds a metal bucket filled with seeds in gloved left hand, while reaching bare right hand into bucket.