Whistler: Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1: Portrait of the Artist's Mother 1871 Parisians are very lucky to have James McNeill Whistler's mother as a permanent resident. This was thanks to the efforts of French poet Mallarmé and friends, who thought it imperative that the French owned a great American work of art. Whistler himself, in his fifties in 1891, was hopeful of seeing his work in the Louvre at last and accepted a rather modest sum for what is generally considered as his masterpiece. Taking a modern stance, the artist claimed that the subject matter of a painting was not important (although of course his mother was to him), but that it was the painting himself that mattered- what the artist did with the subject. The iconic painting is being shown at present opposite 3 powerful portraits normally on view in the Frick Collection, New York. Whistler: Symphony in Flesh Colour and Pink: Portrait of Mrs. Frances Leyland 1871-74 Mrs. Leyland, the subject of the portrait,...