Jacqueline Mahaboob

Analyzing an Artwork
Of all of the many different forms of art I have always had a special
interest in one specific piece of visual art called Whistlers Mother by James
McNeill Whistler. This piece of artwork has always intrigued me because of
the mysteriousness of its content. When looking at this oil painting it is hard
to decipher what the woman staring off into the distance is thinking about or
feeling. Her mood could be either content or depressed from the shape of the
lines that form her mouth and lines around her eyes. The form of this
painting is dim and the texture of it almost appears somewhat rough from
the texture in the wall and ground. The texture and fine line detailing
contribute to this painting by adding such small but significant detail which
helps to make it a trompe loeil. By painting this picture I believe Whistler
may have been trying to capture a frequent position of his mother to use as
something to remember her by when she is gone. By capturing her in this
figurative art piece looking so gentle just sitting in a chair in such a casual
state with her hands crossed politely in her lap could be Whistler trying to
portray his mother as a quiet and tender older woman who enjoyed times of
calm and stillness. The aesthetics of this painting is up to the viewer like
Whistler adding the white bonnet on his mothers head to show the pureness
and beauty of her inside and out. The time it looks like Whistler put in
creating this picture of his mother shows how much he must care about her
and the fact that she sat long enough as a model for him to paint shows that
she also cares a lot for him and is willing to be however patient it takes to
please her son. Painting his mother all alone could be him trying to show that
she was a single mother that raised him or it could just be him trying to
represent how unique of a person that she was and no one could be
compared to her. This painting was done in 1871 when men were often the
more dominant and boys looked up to their fathers as a role model of a real
man, so for Whistler to solely paint her could be him showing that he doesnt
care about the norm of their century and overtime those standards have
changed and women are valued much more so a picture like this is also
modern in a way. Also by isolating his mother to paint a picture of just her
shows the significance she must have had in his life that no one else had to
dedicate a picture to her all alone. The medium of this artwork is canvas and
oil paint; it is possible that he used oil painting specifically so that he could
show how dark and bold the emotions in her long life had been, while still
being able to use texture and fine detailing to show that she is more complex
than it may seem on the exterior. The curtain in the picture shows a pattern
that looks like flowers on the bottom and petals blowing upward in a gust of

Jacqueline Mahaboob

wind, this could be Whistler trying to represent the wisdom that she has over
the years passed down and it blowing onto the next person. I think gender
adds an interesting component to this when you think about young girls
always being close with their mothers and able to relate to them and fathers
wanting a son to do manly things with, this painting changes that by showing
a son caring not just about his mother but the little details about her. It is
possible that he painted this once he was older because as a child him and
his mothers relationship was strained due to childish behavior and over his
life he grew to appreciate her greatly. This piece of artwork can be viewed as
a beautiful tribute to Whistlers mother to show her complexity yet simplicity.
Another type of art I enjoy greatly is theater. Theater allows so much
self-expression and the ability to be something you are not. Scripts all the
time are written for many different reasons such as someone trying to relay a
message or moral, as a tribute to someone and as a way to express ones
feelings. Just like Whistlers piece of art could have been in memory of his
mother some plays are written in memory of loved ones. The way plays are
written do depend greatly on circumstances such as age to determine the
maturity or socio- economic status, gender and race to add personal input
and experiences. The writing style of the script could be altered by a female
writing it rather than a male because of certain words they may chose and
emotions they chose to express, for example, a male writer may use more
masculine words and a woman may add in more feminine qualities like
maternal nurturing. Another factor that alters a script is when the script was
initially written, a play written centuries ago may involve events or words
that are not a part of our modern time. These plays can be written by one
person or a group of people who shared a mutual experience and have
different views on the topic. Theater is a more pure way of presenting
feelings and emotion because it is all live and there is no editing or filters
used like this is in film. Just like Whistlers painting of his mother could have
been him trying to promote the importance and value of a mother the same
could be done though a play about a mothers significance. Although these
forms of art are visually different they are also a lot the same with qualities
and concepts and can easily be compared.

Jacqueline Mahaboob

Whistlers Mother- James

McNeill Whistler