St. Severin, Paris 1902

Donald Shaw MacLaughlan made this etching of St. Severin in Paris using the intaglio printmaking process to create a series of marks that build up the image. It's all about the line here—thin, dark lines crisscrossing and overlapping, like whispers of ink on paper. I wonder what MacLaughlan was thinking as he worked on this piece, hunched over the metal plate, carefully etching each line. It’s a kind of dance, isn’t it? A give-and-take between the artist, the material, and the subject. He probably took inspiration from Whistler and other etchers of the period. Look how the dense network of lines creates depth, drawing you into the narrow street towards the church. I wonder what other artists thought of this image? There’s such a long, rich history of printmaking, each artist building on the work of those who came before. It's like a never-ending conversation.