Young Shop Girls
1904
Named for their brief noon lunch break, "midinettes" were young Parisian seamstresses, and Fernand Louis Gottlob captures their daily grind in this lively 1904 sketch sheet. We see them yawning in bed, gossiping with friends, and even wearing a number "31" on their arm, likely a workshop tag. The French caption at the bottom humorously notes they work hard all week and "rest" on Sunday by doing sports, though the couple strolling with a hatbox looks more like a romantic date! Rendered with loose pencil strokes and soft blue accents during the Art Nouveau period, these sketches offer a candid glimpse into early 20th-century working-class life.
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