Born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, Donald Shaw MacLaughlan moved with his family to Boston and acquired his early knowledge of printers and printmaking at the Boston Public Library, where he developed a strong interest in the work of Whistler. He traveled to Europe, enrolled in the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, and pursued further studies with Jean Leon Gerome and Jean Paul Laurens. His first etchings date from 1899, and were the focus of his work until his death at Marrakesh, Morocco.