Donald Shaw MacLaughlan — Rooftops near Allerton House

A watercolour of the backs of buildings — the view from a window, not from the street.

The document

Pale washes of rose and ochre over a pencil drawing: water tanks, chimneys, the flat roofs of the low buildings, and a tall tower going up behind them. It is the view from an upper window rather than a composed street scene, and it is signed and dated in the lower right.

This sheet is one of three works on paper that came with the portfolio but are not part of it: the museum catalogues them as drawings, not prints.

About the artist

Donald Shaw MacLaughlan (1876–1938) was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and died in Marrakesh. He spent three decades etching the old cities of Europe — Rouen, Venice, Paris — and in Chicago he was represented by the Albert Roullier Art Galleries. In 1931, at fifty-five, he made twelve views of Chicago. The following year he took a prize at the Society of Etchers annual in New York.

The print

Printed to order and made to last. Choose Museum Matte (heavyweight matte art paper) or Fine Art Giclée (Hahnemühle cotton paper — the archival standard). The Métrica museum caption — artist, title, date and source — is printed as part of the piece, set in our house type. Free US shipping on orders over $75.

Donald Shaw MacLaughlan · Rooftops near Allerton House, watercolour over graphite, 1931. Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1974.85.19. Public domain (CC0).