Poigny
Medium
Drawing
Classification
Drawing
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Moune G.H. Webster
Accession Number
1974.85.21
Art Historical Context
Discover the evocative drawing *Poigny* by Donald Shaw MacLaughlan a treasured piece in the Smithsonian American Art Museum collection, gifted by Moune G.H. Webster. This work, housed in the Smithsonian Collection and classified simply as a drawing, captures artist's keen eye for place and mood, evoking a quiet corner of the world—likely a French village, given the title's nod to Poigny-la-Forêt. MacLaughlan, active during the late 19th early 20th centuries, was a master of fine line work, bridging painting and printmaking traditions. Drawings like this one showcase the medium's unique intima...
About the Artist
Donald Shaw MacLaughlan
Donald Shaw MacLaughlan (1876–1938) was born on November 9 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, though he is recognized as an American artist after his family relocated to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1890. There, as a teenager, he immersed himself in the Boston Public Library's collections of old master prints, studying works by Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt van Rijn, and eighteenth-century E...