With a long black dress, a calming side face, folded hands, the repose with which she leans back in her chair, and a familiar dusty black and white background, she is known to every single art nerd. Though her son painted her while treating her as a mere subject, she didn’t escape from the spirits of her motherhood. There is a sudden revelation of faith on her face as if the artist proclaimed himself as a devoted son with each tone and line of her face. This painting is none other than one of the most famous paintings of James McNeil Whistler, The Whistler’s Mother. Whistler might never have expected that this portrait of his mother would become a cultural icon. No painting before this explained the emotional sensitivity in such an exaggerated manner. The genius of Whistler, combined with the troubled relationship with his mother and mistresses and the unprecedented historical response, were a few secrets behind this composition, which make the viewer awe-struck. The Museum guard (where the painting resides) says that the men who see this work had their tears flowing down their cheeks, not because of its excellent craftsmanship but its appreciated sentimental value, who cultivate art for its own sake. But there’s a lot more to learn about it because there are both controversial and progressive views on this art, which narrates a gripping history and aesthetics. And there is no way we are missing the information on how James lifted his model from the anonymity of plain wife and mother to the anonymity of the national symbol.
Whistler’s Mother | Fast Knowledge
Whistler’s Mother is one of the excellent portrayals of the strength and character of a mother, reflecting inner peace and technical skill with the aesthetic taste of the son. It portrays Anna Matilda, painted by her son James McNeill Whistler in 1871. The painting now hangs in the Musee d’Orsay in Paris.
General Information About the Artwork.
1. Artist’s Statement.
“Industry in art is a necessity—not a virtue—and any evidence of the same, in the production, is a blemish, not a quality; a proof, not of achievement, but of absolutely insufficient work, for work alone, will efface the footsteps of work.”
2. Subject Matter.
The painting portrays a lady in a black dress sitting with her clasped hands in a side pose. James chooses the black dress for her mother for which she never forgave him because after he lost his father in 1849 in St. Petersburg, she dressed herself in deep mourning for her husband for the rest of her life. With a slim figure, carefully combed hair, and a wrinkled pale face, her eyes focus on one point as if she awaits someone’s arrival.
One of the most striking elements of her dress is the white cap, which is made of extremely thin and see-through cotton with large lappets like spaniel ears covering her shoulders. Trimming grandly with an antique lace with broderie anglaise, James fills the dress of her mother with narrower white satin ribbon and detailing. There is a sort of conspicuous modesty in her outfit that gives a clear statement about the Whistler’s mother’s age, position, income, and housewifely skills.
In the background of the painting, Whistler reproduced the View of the Thames on the wall. Further, he also adds a Japanese-inspired pattern on the curtain hanging at the left, which denotes his interest in the Japanese aesthetic. A curtain drops at the right side with a stylized butterfly signature on it. The arrangement is simple, yet there is a careful balance of shapes in the painting. There is complete stabilization in the painting through balance.
I will tell you more things about the painting’s subject matter in later sections of the article.
3. Artist.
James McNeill Whistler, one of the most provincial artists of America, painted the composition, Whistler’s Mother. Even though he was applauded in America before he became accepted in Europe, James was much less understood there. Being the first major American artist apart from so-called primitives, James Whistler established his own style, which was independent of any European influence. Marking the coming of age of American painting, his painting, Whistler’s Mother, was the only American painting for many years that hung in the Louvre. A powerful force in setting new fashion and interior design styles with his exquisite taste, Whistler was a formidable force. There is a great deal of detail about the period in his paintings, and his amazing Peacock Room, covered with brilliant murals, is the highlight of the Freer Gallery in Washington, D.C.
In his adult life, Whistler spent most of his time in England and France. During a sojourn in Venice, he produced stunning etchings and pastels, and a visit to Chile produced his first night scenes. In 1863, he exhibited with the Impressionists- The White Girl, a painting that caused a sensation at the Salon des Refusés. I will tell you more about the artist’s life in the following sections of the article.
4. Date.
Whistler’s Mother painting dates back to 1871. Though no one ever knew under what circumstances the artist painted this composition, there is little to trace events through the painting’s scientific studies, which we will discuss in this article.
5. Provenance.
A little provenance of the painting is that James Whistler painted this composition when Anna lived with her son in a London home and he asked her to pose for him after a model canceled. As she was 67 years old, she was unable to stand for extended periods, which is why Whistler chose a seated position for her comfort.
In 1891, this painting was the first American work, which was purchased by the French government. Thereby, it was only after this artwork that James became a famous artist, securing him wealthy American patrons.
One of the few iconic paintings, such as Edvard Munch’s The Scream and Grant Wood’s American Gothic, Portrait of the Artist’s Mother is both appreciated by the elite and by the masses without much explanation.
6. Location.
The composition is on exhibition at the Musee d’Orsay, Paris.
7. Technique and Medium.
Whistler’s Mother has a medium of oil on canvas. The ‘Mother’ was painted when there was a moment of flux in the history of painting. And the techniques of academics reached the point of sterility. There were three movements- Pre-Raphaelites in England, the Macchiaioli in Italy, and new schools in Germany and Denmark, and Realists and Impressionists in France. Whistler belonged to no school, hence the painting is an innovation. There is minimum to no knowledge about the techniques and principles used to paint this composition. Little did we know that it has the most impressive technical achievements as there is a lack of rigorous instruction in the use of oils. Also, he painted the composition while he spent his time in Gleyre’s studio. The first lesson he learned there was that there must be an insistence on the importance of line over color, as Gleyre believed that the pigment mixtures should be pre-prepared on the palette so that there is maximum attention on the craftsmanship. There is a use of sobriety in coloring in this artwork. The next lesson he learned from Gleyre was to use black color as the base tone.
The Whistler’s Mother already has a highly individualistic style with the predominance of blacks and whites, firm lines of construction, strong silhouettes, and pictures. Also, the artist might have shown the influence of Courbet’s realism, which he first portrayed in ‘At the Piano,’ but mastered in this composition.
The unprimed canvas Whistler used soaked up his paint. In order to allow the weave of the canvas to show through, he used heavily diluted oils to build up semi-translucent layers of color. A soft emotional feeling is created by blurred edges and fuzzy lines.
| Artist | James McNeill Whistler |
| Year Painted | 1871 |
| Genre | Portraiture |
| Period | Modern Art |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 144.3 x 162.5 cm |
| Price | Not on sale |
| Where is it housed? | Musee d’Orsay, Paris |
In-Depth Description of Whistler’s Mother.
About the Artist: James McNeill Whistler.
James McNeill Whistler had outstanding characteristics in him; ebullience with a superabundance of wit and humor. Born on July 10, 1834, his birthplace was Lowell, Massachusetts, but because of his obligation to be near his mother, he preferred to think that he was born in Baltimore, as he said at the Ruskin trial, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. His mother, whose portrait we are discussing in this article, has equal fame to that of Gilbert Stuart’s Washington as descended from the McNeills of Skye. Coming from North Carolina, Anna was devoutly pious and tried to dominate her son. For instance, she persuaded him that painting on Sunday was a sin; furthermore, he was constantly compelled by his mother to read the Bible, which might be the reason, why he had a familiarity with the text of the King James Version.
His father belonged to a military family and was born in Fort Wayne. Whistler once said in Chicago,
“Chicago, dear me. What a wonderful place! I really ought to visit it someday; for you know my grandfather founded the city, and my uncle was the last commander of Fort Dearborn.”
Though the artist’s father had a military ancestry, he rose no higher than Major, but he showed a great aptitude as an engineer. So, he moved his family to Stonington on the seacoast of Connecticut; where he was made chief engineer of the Stonington Railroad. However, in 1842, Czar Nicholas I of Russia sent a commission to find a man to build a railroad from Saint Petersburg to Moscow, for which Major Whistler was chosen. Whistler obeyed his orders, and to the Czar’s delight, he finished the railroad in record time. The Whistlers remained in Russia from 1843 to 1849, and during this time, Mrs. Whistler kept a journal, which was much devoted to Jamie. When Jamie was eleven, he began a course in drawing at the Academy of Fine Arts on the banks of the Neva, and a year later, he passed as first in his class.
The family spent the summer of 1847 in England, and then the next summer, Jamie had a severe attack of rheumatic fever. As Mrs Whistler returned with him to England, there was a cholera outbreak in Saint Petersburg, which claimed the life of Major Whistler. After this incident, as Jamie’s father died, he and his mother returned to America.
The mother and son duo then lived in Pomfret, Connecticut, because of better schooling there. During this time, Jamie mastered his drawings, and his mother was proud of his drawings. But with a military ancestry, she felt that it would be right for Jamie to be a soldier. So he enrolled in the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1852, where he studied drawing under Robert W. Weir, but his poor academic performance led to his expulsion in 1854. However, due to his excellent map-making skills, James acquired his first job as a topographical draftsman in the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. He worked there for only four months, but his intent to pursue art as a profession let him leave for Europe in 1855. Though his mother was disappointed with it, he knew where his place was. Now that you know a brief on the early life of James Whistler, let us move on to learning the historical context of the Whistler’s Mother painting.
Historical Provenance of Whistler’s Mother Painting.
Though there are very less things known about Whistler’s Mother, we can trace a little bit of historical provenance of the painting through the last years of Anna Whistler with the relevance of the artist’s life.
The final years of Anna Whistler’s life were quiet as all she did was letter-writing and reading. She wrote,
“But at the age of 73- my birthday 27th Sept, I am waiting and hope to be prepared for the change! to be received in the Heavenly Mansions, Where our Lord has prepared a place for all who trust in His Blood and merits.”
The last surviving letter of Anna dates from 1878, which included content involving domestic accounts and human relationships, reinforced by her professions of piety. The tales majorly included childhood, marriages, management of households, religion, and morality, art and patronage, science and technology, triumph and defeat, fortune and misfortune, and life and death. Now, let me tell you a bit about painting.
It was 1871 when Whistler surprised his mother saying,
“I want you to stand for me! It is what I have long intended and desired to do, to take your portrait.”
As Anna was a submissive and obedient mother, she accepted his request patiently and the result was the finest artwork, Whistler’s Mother.
Anna Whistler wrote when posing,
“It was a Mother’s unceasing prayer while being the painter’s model gave the expression which makes the attractive charm.”
Then, in one of the letters to her sister Kate, after the portrait was completed, she wrote,
“Poor Jemie… is never idle, his talent is too eager, if he fails in one attempt he tries another, so I was not surprised at his setting about preparing a large canvas late tho it was in the evening, but I was surprised when the next day he said to me, ‘Mother, I want you to stand for me!…’ If the youthful Maggie had not failed Jemie as a model for “The Girl in Blue on the Seashore” which I trust he may yet finish for Mr. Grahame, he would have had no time for my portrait.”
According to Anna Whistler, her portrait took around three months to complete.
Who was Anna McNeill Whistler?
The painting might have millions of viewers, but rarely has the subject’s life examined. Hence, I have particularly added this section to this article.
Anna McNeill was the great-granddaughter of Black Daniell. Her father was born and grew up in Scotland, and they only arrived in the country after the revolution. Since she inherited no title or property to ease her path, she had to depend on her male family members to get by. Her domestic and faithful character suited well with the idea of American motherhood and the ‘Cult of True Womanhood’, embodying virtues such as piety, purity, domesticity, and submissiveness.
While she meets domestic expectations well, she also experiences a series of more public activities, including transatlantic travel, residence overseas, and an active role in her son James’s artistic career. Having written letters and journals for more than thirty years, her letters and journals present a detailed social, cultural, and family history, providing valuable insight into the social rituals of the white middle classes in Britain and America.
Little is known of the early life of Anna McNeill except the fact that she went to a private school or received education at home. Since her father practiced medicine in New York from 1810 to 1820s, Anna probably lived there for some time. According to one of her relatives, William McNeill, she spent her first ten years of life at Oak Forest, which was the ancestral home of the McNeills in the Brown Marsh area of Bladen County, NC.
At twenty-two, she married George Washington Whistler, who was already married, but his wife died and had three children. Hence, after marrying, she took considerable domestic responsibilities. Anna herself bore five children: James Abbott, William McNeill, Kirk Boott, Charles Donald, and John Bouttatz of whom the last three died before turning five. Anna Whistler’s husband supported his expanding family, and she was responsible for all domestic affairs and supervised and provided for her children’s education and welfare; yet she came to depend on them later in life. Throughout her single, married, and widowed years, Anna continually relied on male family members, which kind of sparked the debate about a patriarchial society that excluded women from their sphere.
When her husband passed away due to the cholera epidemic on 7 April 1849, she wrote to James,
“Oh Jemie, this home is so desolate without him! I mourn my loss so deeply!… Prayer strengthens me and the word of God comforts me but this morning, I have been only reading my own heart while writing to Grandmother and to your Uncle McNeill and I sink under the weight of my selfish sorrow.”
After the burial of her husband, Anna responsibly took care of her children while giving them the best education she could afford. Religion was always a crucial part of her life. One of the lines from the Bible defined by Timothy guided her for the rest of her life,
“Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.”
Seeing herself first and foremost as a Christian mother, she always abided by her responsibilities towards her children no matter how much sorrow drowned her.
In 1854, as her sons changed their employment, Anna faced deteriorating finances and so she left Scarsdale and moved for a short period to Baltimore. Her family was forced to move in with her nephew Donald Mcneil Fairfax, a naval officer at Preston Street, Baltimore, after the railroad shares collapsed in 1855. She confessed,
“Bills came pouring in and I am helpless, I have been tempted to talk to our host here! I am not dishonest tho poverty has overtaken me. I feel my winter bonnet! I see my old gown of two summers wear, foxy and threadbare. Still, I know my respectability does not depend on dress, the comfort does upon neatness.”
Furthermore, a number of personal tragedies affected her. For instance, in 1852, her mother, Martha died. and then in 1853, William Gibbs McNeill and her loved elder brother died. A few months later, his son passed away. Hence, Anna lived a life of grief and disappointment, which this painting represents well.
Understanding the Meaning of the Painting.
Whistler’s Mother is the record of the last impression of the artist’s mother as she was unwell during her last time. Additionally, the artwork portrays the sentimental value of the mother.
Influences of the Painting.
Whistler was familiar with the classical art. Particularly interested in Hellenistic art, the later paintings from the 1860s of James were inspired by Tanagra figurines, the terracotta statuettes of women that Constantine Iodnides brought back from Greece. According to Philip Gilbert Hamerton, one of the first critics to examine Whistler’s Mother, demonstrating his classical education, the figure, sitting and in profile, seems to have been influenced by two famous statues: Agrippina’s Portrait in the Capitol, and Canova’s Portrait of Napoleon’s Mother at Chatsworth. Though Canova denied it, the antique statue of Agrippina from Roma may have inspired this painting. For instance, the figures of Agrippina and Napoleon’s Mother don’t sit with a straight look but lean and turn, which generally shows a more complex and three-dimensional solidity than in Whistler’s Mother. The book, Whistler’s Mother: An American Icon explains the influence pretty well in detail.
Subject Matter Analysis.
The artwork portrays Anna in her side pose with a long black dress and a simple lace cap. She steadily gazes ahead and holds a white handkerchief in her lap. Dressed in a simple and practical black dress with long shoulder lines, fitting sleeves, and a little cap over the elbows, she has a neatly tailored dress with a pleated neckline and sleeves. Due to her avoidance of extreme fashions, her dress wasn’t extravagantly trimmed or brightly colored. In her dress, the most striking feature was her white cap with thin, see-through cotton and large lappets draping over her bodice like spaniel ears. In spite of the possibility of tying up the lappets out of the way, they were intended to hang down decoratively, attractively framing the face. It was impeccably clean, ironed, and probably starched; it was trimmed with ribbons and had a narrow gathered border.
A lively, rather quizzical expression is on Anna’s face, and she wears her cap well back on her hair. Her expression with the artist is less withdrawn and introspective – revealing the fascination she expressed to her sister about watching him at work.
She has a reproduction of Whistler’s View of the Thames hanging on the wall behind her. The curtain hanging at the left is decorated with Japanese-inspired floral patterns, intimating the artist’s interest in Japanese design.
Formal Analysis of Whistler’s Mother.
1. Line.
The painting has a profusion of different lines. It is restricted to the straight horizontal and vertical lines, creating a two-dimensional grid against which Anna sits. There is a balanced calmness achieved through these lines. For instance, the sitting posture of Anna, her sight, the painting layout, and even the curtains show a vertical movement of line. Through the use of these lines, James was able to achieve calmness and serenity in the painting.
2. Color, Light, and Value.
The dress and color scheme of Anna here suggests death and mourning to the viewers. The picture conveys a simple statement, ‘a grave poetry of mourning.’ The colors chosen here range from different hues and shades of black and grey with a warmer contrast of skin tones. If you look closer, the darker tones dominate here, but the white cap marks a subtle contrast in this artwork. There is a stark color contrast of white and grey, and there is a lack of interaction in the Whistler’s Mother. Anna doesn’t seem to make any contact with anyone, as if she is in a visible space but in a silent prayer or contemplation.
Final Words.
Whistler’s art is unparalleled in comparison to the other painters because his life smothered it. The painting, Whistler’s Mother is an artwork that speaks with the viewer through its terrific emotions. The mourning of death, the silence that follows it, the calmness on the face due to acceptance of the situations of life, motherhood beyond all the troubles of Anna’s personal life, and good color coordination make the artwork the most relatable portraiture of Mother to date. Perhaps no artist could have painted this composition so well, not when it comes to technical details, but the emotional manifest which still throbs the hearts of millions.
Resources.
- Whistler’s Mother by Elizabeth Mumford.
- A Fragile Modernism: Whistler and His Impressionist Followers by Anna Gruetzner Robins.
- Whistler and His Mother: An Unexpected Relationship by Sarah Walden.
- Whistler’s Mother: An American Icon by Margaret F. MacDonald and James McNeill Whistler.
- Whistler: A Biography by Stanley Weintraub.
- Featured Image: Whistler’s Mother by James McNeill Whistler; James McNeill Whistler, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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