The Story Behind the Painting

JOURNALING:

The Story Behind the Painting

There has been a lot of talk over the years about my “Arrangement in Grey and Black #1” which has come to be known as “Whistler’s Mother.” Many have lauded it as a portrait of the iconic “mother figure,” but, in fact, it is simply as the title suggests, an “arrangement” - forms, colors, light and shadow, playing off each other. The subject really is of no consequence. That it even came to be is somewhat of an accident precipitated by my admitted fault in having little patience with the fairer sex’s inane prattle. I had been asked by our Chelsea neighbor, Sir McNeill Lindgren, to do a portrait of the women in his family. There was his wife Eliza, and the Lindgren daughters, the beautiful Helena, and her older sister Christina. My mother was included in the group because she is Sir Lindgren’s cousin. Well, I had completed sketching in my mum and was about to start on the Lindgren women when I just could not stand the chatter any longer. They had been at it ad nauseam for the entire sitting. I threw down my brushes, stated, “I quit!”, and stomped out of the room. After I calmed down, I returned to the canvas and noticed the shapes that I had completed. I became energized by what was before me and completed the work within a few hours.. So, there. You have the story of “Whistler’s Mother.”

CREDITS: KITS: Room 19 Project 1 Finding Yourself and inspiration photo by Sissy Sparrows (TLP); FONT: Traveling Typewriter; ARTIST, PAINTING, & SIGNATURE: from web