Our female workers
Rendered in a loose, expressive Art Nouveau style, this 1903 illustration by Fernand Louis Gottlob titled 'Nos ouvrières' (Our Female Workers) captures a witty workplace exchange. A mustachioed man in an apron chats with two young women, one wearing a distinctive polka-dot coat. The handwritten caption reveals a clever pun on the French word 'repasser' (meaning both 'to iron' and 'to come back'): the man promises to discuss their marriages 'when you repasserez,' and the women retort, 'But we do nothing but that from morning to night!' It's a humorous yet poignant look at the endless grind of laundry work that left these women little time for romance.
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