The Curved Canal
Medium
Etching in black on cream laid paper
Dimensions
Image/plate: 22.4 × 27.6 cm (8 7/8 × 10 7/8 in.); Sheet: 24.5 × 35.7 cm (9 11/16 × 14 1/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
11998
Art Historical Context
Donald Shaw MacLaughlan's *The Curved Canal (1909) is a masterful etching in black ink on cream laid paper, the serene elegance of a winding waterway. Measuring 22.4 × 27.6 cm for the image and plate, this intimate print invites viewers into a tranquil scene, likely inspired by MacLaughlan's deep affinity for European landscapes, particularly Venice, where he spent significant time honing his craft. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints Drawings Department, it exemplifies the artist's precision in rendering architectural forms and reflective surfaces. Created during the early 20th-c...
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...