Wilmington has long touted its connection to the one of the most famous paintings of all time.
For decades, a historical highway marker at Third and Orange streets downtown has noted Wilmington as the birthplace of Anna McNeill Whistler, subject of the painting "Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1."
Painted by one of Whistler's sons, James McNeill Whistler, the painting is better-known by its colloquial title: "Whistler's Mother."
A new documentary directed by David Bickerstaff, "James McNeill Whistler," that delves into the life and work of the artist was released into theaters Sept. 15 in conjunction with a major retrospective of Whistler’s work at UK art gallery Tate Britain.
In a trailer for the film, James Whistler, who died in 1903, is called
one of the great innovators of 19th century art, a contemporary of the Impressionists whose work was admired by such giants as Vincent Van Gogh and Édouard Manet.
But Whistler's roots, or at least those of his mother, are in Wilmington.
According to past StarNews reporting, Anna McNeill Whistler (1804-1881) was the daughter of a Scottish-born doctor. She was born in a house that no longer exists at the southwest corner of Fourth and Orange streets, and her family had a plantation at Clarkton in Bladen County.
In 1831 she married a West Point-trained civil engineer named Capt. George Washington Whistler, with whom she had two sons: James, born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1834, and William, born in 1836.
James is not thought to have ever visited Wilmington. The family spent much time abroad, moving back to the United States in 1849 after Capt. Whistler died.
James followed his father into West Point, where he flunked out, later moving to London to study and create art, living a famously bohemian lifestyle and turning heads in artistic circles and drawing the notice of Oscar Wilde and others.
During the Civil War, after visiting her son William, a Confederate Army surgeon, Anna Whistler sailed out of Wilmington on the blockade runner Ad-Vance to join James in London. It was there the 67-year-old woman posed for "Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1" — so the story goes, after a hired model failed to show up.
The painting would go one to become one of the most famous in the world, its familiarity inspiring countless jokey takes and parodies.
In the art world, however, the painting is regarded as a masterpiece of form, style and technique, a masterwork that wouldn't exist if not for Wilmington.
John Staton is the arts and culture reporter for the StarNews. You can reach him at jstaton@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Wilmington's connection to one of the world's most famous paintings
