The Market, Venice 1908

Donald Shaw MacLaughlan made this etching, "The Market, Venice," on a metal plate, at some point in his life. It’s like looking at a memory, isn’t it? I’m struck by the way he uses line, almost obsessively, to build up the image. Look at those buildings! It’s a whole world of tiny strokes, like he’s mapping out Venice one scratch at a time. The texture becomes almost palpable, doesn’t it? You can almost feel the grit of the stone and the water lapping at the buildings. The beauty of a piece like this is in its openness. It’s not about perfection, it’s about the process, the accumulation of marks. MacLaughlan reminds me a little of Whistler, in the way he captures the mood of a place. But where Whistler is all atmosphere, MacLaughlan seems more interested in the actual stuff of the city, the nitty-gritty details. It feels like he’s inviting us to get lost in the maze of Venice, to wander and discover our own stories within its lines.