After the Virgin Mary herself, Anna McNeill Whistler may be considered one of the most recognizable mothers in all of art history. The Wilmington native is also one of the most famous moms to call North Carolina home.
She has been the subject of songs, films, television shows, postage stamps, and even an 8-foot bronze statue in Pennsylvania that is dedicated to mothers everywhere.
Admirers have described her son James’ 1871 portrait of her, “Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1,” as a “Victorian Mona Lisa,” an “iconic symbol of motherhood” and one of the “most famous works by an American artist outside the United States.”
Art historians see it as a leading example of the “aesthetic” movement — a style that emphasized composition over subject matter and helped to coin the term “art for art’s sake,” according to Dana Cowen, curator for European and American art before 1950 at UNC Chapel Hill’s Ackland Art Museum…