The Art Institute of Chicago Essays - Visual Arts, Whistlers Mother

The Art Institute of Chicago By Bill M. Beverly Louis Shields Art 129 IN2 April 22, 2017 When visiting the Art Institute of Chicago, one can find many different works of art, many different types of art, and many different categories of art. Recently, the A rt I nstitute has brought back the artist known as James McNeill Whistler's work entitled "Whistler's mother" which inspired people to visit while on display this year from March to May of 2017 for the first time in 60 years . The artist painted a rendition of his actual mother using oil on canvas in 1871 while she was living in London. Another work of art displayed, Willem de Kooning 's " Excavation " has been on display at the art institute for some time. The inspiration for this artwork was a rendition of women working in a rice field from an Italian movie using oil on canvas. Talking about "Whistler's Mother" , James said in 1878 about his most famous painting, Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (Portrait of the Artist's Mother), "Take the picture of my mother, exhibited at the Royal Academy as an Arrangement in Grey and Black.' Now that is what it is. To me it is interesting as a picture of my mother; but what can or ought the public to care about the identity of the portrait?" The artist p ainted this portrait in 1871 . T he portrait was intended to demonstrate Whistler's recent focus on tonal harmonies over subject matter. Both austere and ambitious, accurate and abstract, the portrait serves as a quintessential expression of his then-newly developed "art for art's sake" aesthetic. The composition w as initially met with puzzlement, but it was soon lauded, spurring a staggering quantity of critical responses, reproductions in various media, a lso referenc ing within popular culture. Despite Whistler's intentions, the portrait of Anna McNeill Whistler , his actual mother, has thus become an icon of motherhood, beloved by Americans but rarely seen in the United States. The painting is 56.81 by 63.94 inches displayed in a frame of Whistler's own design. It is exhibited in and held by the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, having been purchased by the French state in 1891. It is one of the most famous works by an American artist outside the United States. It has been variously described as an American icon and a Victorian Mona Lisa . Again, "Whistler's Mother" is currently o n display at the Art Institute of Chicago through May of this year 2017. In March of 2017 , Whistler's most favored masterpiece return ed to Chicago for the first time in over 60 years. The fame of this iconic work is considered his most focused work of approximately 25 objects, including small / large-format paintings, prints, drawings, posters, and other ephemera. The exhibit's presentation also explores Whistler's use of family members as subjects, his abstract treatment of conventional genres such as portraiture and landscape, and the arc of his professional ambition. The return of "Whistler's Mother" to the Art Institute of Chicago is especially meaningful given the museum's deep holdings of Whistler's paintings, prints, and drawings. Championed by the museum during his lifetime, Whistler is considered one of the 19th-century artists whose work lies at the core of the Art Institute of Chicago's collection. Several unverifiable stories have been relate d to the painting; one is that Anna Whistler , his mother, acted as a replacement for another model who couldn't make the appointment. It is also said that James originally envisioned painting the model standing up, but his mother was too uncomfortable for pos ing while s tanding for extended period s . Another story associated with the painting is that Mr. Whistler called upon his beautiful young neighbor, Helena Lindgren, to sit in his mother Anna's place when she grew too tired. Well into her old age, Helena talked of secretly modeling for James, who was especially enamo red of her hands. Accordin g to a surviving letter of 1935 , his mother Anna had first called on the Lindgren ' s to ask that Helena's older sister, Christina, be her stand-in not Helena . However, Christina's