Devonshire Village 1906

Donald Shaw MacLaughlan made this print of Devonshire Village using etching, a process where marks are eaten into a metal plate to make a picture. I love to zoom in close to a piece like this - you can see the tiny lines he uses to build up the image. It’s a landscape, but it’s also a record of someone working, mark by mark. The textures here are amazing. Look at the way he suggests the rough stone of the building on the left. It’s almost like he’s knitting with lines, layering them to create depth and shadow. And then you have the open sky, a blank space that feels full of light. This reminds me a bit of Whistler's prints, with their quiet, contemplative mood. But MacLaughlan has his own thing going on, a kind of loving attention to the details of everyday life. It’s a simple scene, but it invites you to slow down and really see the world around you. And that’s what art’s all about, right?