Whistler’s Mother
Sunday, 10 May 2009
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) is one of the most important American Artist from the 19th century. He had a profound impact on the course of European and modern art. The above is a portrait of his mother, created because his model did not show up for a sitting.
“The austere portrait in his normally constrained palette is another Whistler exercise in tonal harmony and composition. The deceptively simple design is in fact a balancing act of differing shapes, particularly rectangles of the curtain, picture on the wall, wall and floor which stabilize the curve of her face, dress, and chair. Again, though his mother is the subject, Whistler commented that the narrative was of little importance. In reality, however, it was a homage to his pious mother. After the initial shock of her moving in with her son, she aided him considerably by stabilizing his behavior somewhat, tending to his domestic needs, and providing an aura of conservative respectability that helped win over patrons.” (Whistler’s Mother)