The White Ox 1905

Donald Shaw MacLaughlan made this etching, called "The White Ox," sometime in the early 20th century, and it's now over at the Art Institute of Chicago. There's a funny, old-timey feel to this piece, right? It has a very limited palette. The details are so precise, like the delicate lines that create the ox's form. Look at the cross-hatching, the layers of marks that build up the shadows and texture. It's like MacLaughlan is thinking through the image, one line at a time. The ox itself is this solid, imposing figure, but then everything around it feels a little hazy. See how the woman standing next to the tree is created with fewer and less precise marks. It's like he's playing with what's sharp and what's soft, what's present and what's fading away. MacLaughlan's got this way of making you feel like you're catching a glimpse of something fleeting, a moment in time that's about to disappear. You can definitely see the influence of Whistler in this piece, especially in the tonalist approach. It reminds us that art is all about conversation, with each artist adding their own voice to a dialogue that stretches back through time.