46. Donald Shaw MacLaughlan
(1876-1952)
The Bernese Oberland

(click on image to print)
MacLaughlan, Bernese Oberland

The Bernese Oberland

Etching, 1910, 265 x 378 mm., Bruette 162. Very fine impression in blue-grey ink with variably-wiped plate tone on Van Gelder Zonen laid paper, trimmed to or just outside the platemark by the artist and signed in pencil. MacLaughlan, born in Canada and trained in the United States, was among the earliest of the New World etchers to go back to Europe for subject matter (he got there, actually, before 1900). A raft of others followed him, some of whom he taught and guided. MacLaughlan could be an uneven artist, but what emerges from his prints with consistency is a palpable feeling of excitement at being where he is and seeing what he sees. In this he is, perhaps, the opposite number to Arms, for his etching style, tight at the beginning, looser as he goes on, is filled with the flavor of the location. He went to France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland, as well as taking the occasional trip back to the States and etching a scene there. This is one of his larger etchings and one of his best, and perhaps not since Brueghel has such sheer excitement at the sight of the Alps been conveyed in a print.