The Lauterbrunnen 1908

Donald Shaw MacLaughlan's "The Lauterbrunnen" at the Art Institute of Chicago is like a symphony of lines etched into a plate. Imagine MacLaughlan, bent over the metal, incising each mark with focused energy. The lines aren't just descriptive; they're emotional. See how they swarm and gather to build up the form of those mountains? The diagonal strokes build up the rockface with incredible drama and the landscape unfolds with incredible scale. You can feel the cool air rushing through the valley, the sheer drop of the cliffs. It's a dance of light and shadow, captured in the most economical way. He would have known all the ins and outs of his craft, the way to coax tone and texture from a stark medium. It's not just a landscape, it’s about the act of seeing, and then making a gesture to record it. Artists are always looking at each other and at the world, aren't they?