Donald Shaw MacLaughlan — The Chapel

The quietest sheet in the set: a tower, trees, and almost nobody.

The document

A chapel with a square tower seen across an open lawn, with bare trees at either side and a few small figures on the path. After eleven sheets of traffic and towers this one has air in it — the only plate in the portfolio where the buildings are not pressing in.

One of the plates of Ten Etched Plates of Chicago, the portfolio MacLaughlan made in 1931. The Smithsonian holds eight of the ten plus the frontispiece.

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 · The Chapel, etching, 1931. Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1974.85.79. Public domain (CC0).