Quai des Grands Augustins, Paris 1906

Curator: Before us is Donald Shaw MacLaughlan's "Quai des Grands Augustins, Paris," an etching rendered on paper, created in 1906. Its current home is the Art Institute of Chicago. Editor: Oh, my. Isn't it wonderfully brooding? A thick, stormy sky bears down on those Parisian buildings, and that dome looming in the background adds this solemn grandeur. I can almost smell the rain on the river. Curator: Precisely. The atmospheric effects achieved through the etching technique are notable here. Look at how MacLaughlan employs varying line weights and densities to create a sense of depth and texture. Note the sharp, crisp lines defining the architecture, juxtaposed against the softer, more diffused strokes used to depict the sky. It embodies both realism and impressionistic undertones. Editor: It's not just the storm that makes it so…intense. The whole scene is just dense. All those buildings stacked together, then those boats huddled on the Seine, laden with…stuff. It makes me think of how history just piles up on places, physically and metaphorically. I imagine those houses contain so many pasts, and the water has flowed through so many eras. Curator: That’s a shrewd observation. One might consider the materiality of the etching itself in relation to that density you've articulated. The very process of etching, with its layering and incising into the metal plate, mirrors that historical accumulation you suggest. There's a certain palimpsest quality inherent in the medium, and MacLaughlan seems keenly aware of it. Editor: A palimpsest, yes! And the grittiness... it's not a postcard view, is it? More like a lived-in city. A working city. Look closely – you can practically see the laborers and barges filled to the brim. All that concentrated activity reflected so meticulously on paper. MacLaughlan is an unsung hero of Impressionism if you ask me, showing a part of the city usually forgotten! Curator: Absolutely, although some argue MacLaughlan fits more squarely into a realist tradition. Either way, the technical precision is undeniably skillful. A closer examination reveals the remarkable control he exerted over the etching process. The delicate balance between light and shadow demonstrates a mastery of the medium, elevating this work above a mere topographical study. Editor: Yes. Whether Impressionist or Realist or both…this work is really just one singular glimpse of Paris suspended between the past and the ever-changing present. Curator: A rather fitting image for a museum filled with relics of civilizations both great and gone.