DOI Heft:
Nr. 198 (August 1913)
DOI Artikel:Taylor, Ernest Archibald: The original etchings of Donald Shaw MacLaughlan
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43453#0159
Donald Shaw MacLaughlan s Etchings
there are qualities of line, treatment, and subject
which are adaptable to the outlook of almost any
etcher to-day. How much their individual
technical means of expression have been utilised
by living exponents will not be difficult to trace.
But no matter in what branch of art one may be
employed, favourite and kindred influences arise.
There are few genuine artists who will not admit
of a continual struggle to retain their own individu-
ality when working in their studios or direct from
nature on subjects that recall early associations
with similar subjects as interpreted by others.
Perhaps the only remedy would be to deny at the
outset of a student’s career any lengthy period of
access to examples other than those which may
stimulate his own individuality.
In etching, however, the man who simulates to
some extent the work of others is less open to
criticism than the painter or designer who does
the same thing. The field we have to deal with
is smaller, and our attention is confined to the
etcher’s use of black-and-white lines, the main
difficulty of expressing his own personality by them
being in his realising their essentially symbolistic
properties, while the ordinary illusion of nature’s
realities is better attained by the use of aquatint and
by the method known as soft-ground etching.
My memory, however, does not recall any instance
in which MacLaughlan has employed aquatint
to convey an emotion that could not be more
spontaneously attained by pure line and a judicious
wiping of the plate, and it is as an exponent of
that more symbolistic and suggestive method that
he excels.
A comparison of the accompanying illustrations
of his work with those which appeared in this
magazine some few years ago will clearly manifest
the marked advance he has made in the interval.
It will be noticeable, too, that in these later plates
fewer influences assert themselves and detract
from one’s enjoyment of the means he has
employed in recording his vision. Any that do
linger are but superficial, and quickly pass through
the net of reminiscence only of similar subjects.
In singling out from amongst Mr. MacLaughlan’s
many prints examples that will most reveal his
“the white palace”
126
BY D. S. MACLAUGHLAN
there are qualities of line, treatment, and subject
which are adaptable to the outlook of almost any
etcher to-day. How much their individual
technical means of expression have been utilised
by living exponents will not be difficult to trace.
But no matter in what branch of art one may be
employed, favourite and kindred influences arise.
There are few genuine artists who will not admit
of a continual struggle to retain their own individu-
ality when working in their studios or direct from
nature on subjects that recall early associations
with similar subjects as interpreted by others.
Perhaps the only remedy would be to deny at the
outset of a student’s career any lengthy period of
access to examples other than those which may
stimulate his own individuality.
In etching, however, the man who simulates to
some extent the work of others is less open to
criticism than the painter or designer who does
the same thing. The field we have to deal with
is smaller, and our attention is confined to the
etcher’s use of black-and-white lines, the main
difficulty of expressing his own personality by them
being in his realising their essentially symbolistic
properties, while the ordinary illusion of nature’s
realities is better attained by the use of aquatint and
by the method known as soft-ground etching.
My memory, however, does not recall any instance
in which MacLaughlan has employed aquatint
to convey an emotion that could not be more
spontaneously attained by pure line and a judicious
wiping of the plate, and it is as an exponent of
that more symbolistic and suggestive method that
he excels.
A comparison of the accompanying illustrations
of his work with those which appeared in this
magazine some few years ago will clearly manifest
the marked advance he has made in the interval.
It will be noticeable, too, that in these later plates
fewer influences assert themselves and detract
from one’s enjoyment of the means he has
employed in recording his vision. Any that do
linger are but superficial, and quickly pass through
the net of reminiscence only of similar subjects.
In singling out from amongst Mr. MacLaughlan’s
many prints examples that will most reveal his
“the white palace”
126
BY D. S. MACLAUGHLAN