Little Poigny 1906

Donald Shaw MacLaughlan made this tiny etching, Little Poigny, using ink on a metal plate. I can imagine him bent over it, squinting, wiping, and re-inking the plate. It’s so intimate! The scene is set in some European farmland, maybe? Look at the marks making up the trees; they're almost scribbled, nervous, and energetic. It looks like MacLaughlan is trying to capture everything he sees—the light filtering through the leaves, the texture of the rough building, even the lazy pigs resting in the shade. The way he uses line is interesting. See how it varies in thickness and direction, creating depth? There's a real push and pull here between detail and suggestion, a sort of shorthand for the landscape. He shares a sensibility with Whistler and other etchers interested in impressions of light and atmosphere. It's like he's saying, “Here’s a glimpse; now fill in the rest yourself.”