It Wasn’t Always Whistler’s Mother!

A sidetracked teenager changed the course of art history when she skipped an 1871 portrait-sitting.

James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903) ​​— a Massachusetts-born artist living in London  — was commissioned to paint Maggie Graham, the 15-year old daughter of a member of Parliament. Although James had prepared a canvas during his initial studio sessions with Graham, his creative process moved too slowly for her liking. When she failed to appear, James asked his mother, Anna McNeill Whistler, then living with him in London, to be his subject. 

Rather than intentionally crafting a tender maternal tribute (he was more of a proponent of “art for art’s sake”), James focused on fine-tuning the saturation of select colors with “Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (Portrait of the Artist’s Mother).”

Artistic circles adopted the shorthand “Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1,” while the public preferred “Whistler’s Mother.”

Originally, the painting was somewhat divisive, receiving lackluster placement in the Royal Academy of Arts’ annual exhibition.

But in 1891, the piece earned a place in history as the first artwork by an American to be bought by the French state, via the Musée du Luxembourg. During the Great Depression, the painting gained popularity on a 13-city U.S. tour; 1 million people visited it in Chicago alone.

Back in Paris, the painting continued to relocate, becoming the Louvre’s first American painting in 1922 before the Musée d’Orsay’s 1986 acquisition.

“Whistler’s Mother” has been called “the most important American work residing outside the United States.”

Thanks, Interesting Facts!

Who knew? Now we all do!