Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1: Whistler’s Mother
JAMES ABBOTT MCNEILL WHISTLER, 1871
James Whistler’s best-known painting demonstrates that a work of art can take on meaning and significance quite different from what its creator intended. In 1872, the Royal Academy of Art in London, England refused to exhibit Whistler’s somber creation unless he changed its title to Portrait of the Artist’s Mother. Whistler had called the work Arrangement in Grey and Black, which spoke of his original vision. For him, it wasn’t meant to be a portrait at all—it was instead a thoughtful study in composition and color.
Does it look like a typical portrait to you? Notice that most of the lines in this painting are horizontally or vertically oriented—the wall’s edge, the leg of the chair, the starkly rectangular painting. The exception is the artist’s mother. She defies not only the linear nature of the composition with her curved and fluid shape, but, by facing away from her viewers, also challenges the traditional notion of a portrait. We learn more about this woman from her posture and attire than from her face.
Despite Whistler’s intentions, Whistler’s Mother has become one of the most famous “portraits” in the world. In the years that followed the painting’s release, audiences have generally ignored Whistler’s scholarly intentions and have instead embraced his painting as a tribute to motherhood. —DDG