Tour de Buerre, Rouen

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Tour de Buerre, Rouen

Artist Donald Shaw MacLaughlan American, 1876-1938

Date1899

Dimensions3 9/16 x 1 15/16 in.

MediumEtching

ClassificationPrints

Credit LineGift of Alice Roullier

Object number

1933.181

Not on View

Collections

Works on Paper

Exhibition HistoryTMA, Storytelling in Miniature, October 7, 2011-March 4, 2012.Label TextIDonald Shaw MacLaughlan n 1929 the art historian James Laver wrote of Donald Shaw MacLaughlan (1876–1938): “Every process of etching technique, every stage in the production of the finished work, is treated by him almost as part of a religious rite. ... Most modern etchers know how to print, very many of them do their own printing, but few perhaps bestow upon the process the care and labour expended by MacLaughlan. Not content with the mere printing, he always grinds and prepares his ink himself, rightly claiming that some plates need a stiffer ink than others, that sometimes the appropriate tint is warmer, sometimes colder, and that it is only the etcher himself who can properly decide." MacLaughlan was born on a farm in Prince Edward Island, Canada, in 1876. Fourteen years later, his family immigrated to the United States, settling in Boston. While he began his artistic studies in Boston, he went on to study at the École de Beaux-Arts (School of Fine Arts) in Paris in 1898. He continued to live and work in Europe, primarily in France and Italy, where he produced his most memorable art works. He died in Marrakesh, Morocco, in 1938. For this print, MacLaughlan isolated the right tower of the Gothic Cathedral of Nôtre-Dame in Rouen, France. Erected at the end of the 15th century, the tower was financed in part by allowing members of the community to pay for the privilege of eating butter during Lent, when it was normally banned.