Picture essay: on cleaning

“Nobody wonders where, each day, they carry their load of refuse.”

Italo Calvino (Invisible Cities, 1972)

A group of men sweeping the street 1880-1910 José Guadalupa PosadaIf the Centaurs Were Back on Earth - The Street Cleaning Department, illustration for Puck, November 29, 1905Interior with a Woman and Child and through doorway a Maid sweeping ca. 1655–1656

Japan, 19th century Prints; woodcuts Book illustration; woodblock print Image- 7 7:16 x 10 9:16 in. (19 x 26.8 cm) Paper- 8 7:8 x 10 9:16 in. (22.5 x 26.8 cm) Anonymous gift (16.18.1) JaJapan, 1886, 1st month Series- Yoshitoshi's Warriors Trembling with Courage Prints; woodcuts Color woodblock print Herbert R. Cole Collection (M.84.31.97) Japanese ArtJo Hanson sweeping at Buchanan Street SF c. 1980Joseph Beuys, Ausfegen (Sweeping Up), 1972–85 René Block Collection in deposit of Neues Museum in Nürnberg Photo credit- Annette Kradisch © DACS 2005Joseph Beuys, Ausfegen, 1972Kratky, Frantisek - Kolin, prani pradla (Washing Laundry) (ca 1893)

Mierle-Laderman-Ukeles-Press-Image-5

Mierle

Pieter de Hooch - Interior with mother and child and a maid sweeping ca. 1655-1657Protesters and volunteers sweep Tahrir Square, during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, a day after Hosni Mubarak's resignation as president, in a gesture of a new beginning.#1©ShepleyDelhiSweepPalikaParkINSERT2014#2©ShepleyDelhiSweepPalikaParkINSERT2014#3©ShepleyDelhiSweepPalikaPArkINSERT2014Washerwomen at the Roubine du Roi Arles 1888 Paul GauguinWilliam Blake (1757–1827) Man Sweeping the Interpreter's Parlour White-line metalcut, printed in relief Second state (of two), ca. 1822

Women's Street Cleaning Brigade- Female Dustmen at Work, London, 1942