Tour St. Laurent, Rouen 1899

Editor: Right, so this is Donald Shaw MacLaughlan’s "Tour St. Laurent, Rouen," an etching from 1899. It has a really serene, almost dreamlike quality, doesn't it? The delicate lines…it's so detailed but still feels light. What leaps out at you when you look at it? Curator: Dreamlike is a perfect word! For me, it's the texture. See how MacLaughlan uses hatching and cross-hatching to build up not just the form of the tower, but the very *feeling* of weathered stone? He’s playing with light and shadow to evoke not just a place, but a memory of a place. Ever felt like you're walking through a half-remembered dream in a European city? Editor: Absolutely! The tower itself is so imposing, but the people in the foreground look so small and unbothered. It makes me wonder, was MacLaughlan trying to say something about humanity's relationship with history, or with religion perhaps? Curator: I think that tension between the monumental and the mundane is key. Is it reverence, indifference, or simply life continuing in the face of these behemoths? It’s definitely a conversation, not a declaration. Notice how he uses the trees almost like a curtain, drawing our eye up the tower. Is he guiding our gaze, or framing a pre-existing reality? Editor: Framing… that's such an interesting way to put it. So, do you think MacLaughlan's background influenced his focus? Curator: Undeniably. The Impressionists, for instance, taught us to really *see* light, didn't they? And printmaking opened up a world of reproducible images and personal artistic choices for more to experience art and cityscapes such as this one. I wonder if that adds a touch of melancholy for you? It does for me, looking at a moment captured forever in ink. Editor: It definitely does now! It’s funny, I came in thinking this was just a nice little landscape print, but now I see so much more. Curator: Exactly! Art’s a two-way mirror: it reflects, but it also shows you things you weren't expecting to see.