If I remember right, the painting everybody knows as "Whistler's Mother" is really entitled "Arrangement in Grey and Black". Whistler was a great painter and an even better etcher, but not too sentimental and a real full-of-himself jerk half the time, at least. He was pretty dang witty too, at least in person; when he sat down and tried to be witty for posterity it came out strained and mannered. His book, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies is unreadable, except for the title.
This cartoon doesn't have much to do with Whistler, except for the title.
For more information, see here for James Abbot McNeill Whistler, here for Giacometti, here for Botero, here for Arcimboldo, here for Damian Hirst and here for Thomas Kinkade. There. Mothers like things that are educational or uplifting.
Well, you deserve a comment this year.
ReplyDeleteDanmian Hirst's mother really cracked me up.
Split me right in half, in fact.
Awesome Richard! I agree with Neil, the Hirst one was great ^_^ but they're all very clever
ReplyDeleteFantastic! This is crazy timing since I recently picked up the Weintraub biography of Whistler. It sounds like he was a very interesting fellow and he is one of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteFrida Kahlo's Mother: "You think you've got pain? God forbid you should have pain like I have pain! And really, you'd be so much prettier if you smiled once in a while."
ReplyDeleteFrancis Bacon's Mother: "Go on, rip my heart out, why don't you? When are you going to settle down with a nice girl and give me some grandbabies?"
H.R. Giger's Mother: "Every... day...I pray that God will forgive you. You didn't get this from MY side of the family!"
Georgia O'Keefe's Mother: "Oh, that's NICE! You've made me look just like a lovely flower!"
Duchamp's Mother: "Marcel, would you please answer the telephone? I just got in the tub, and I can't come down like this!"
ReplyDeleteWood's Mother: "Oh, Grant, you don't want ME in your picture! I'd only spoil it. Why don't you ask your sister to pose with your Dad?"
ReplyDeleteWarhol's Mother: "Andy, how many times do I have to ask you to put the groceries back in the pantry when you're through with them? Every shopping day it's the same thing, over and over and over and over!"
ReplyDeleteFinally, in the interests of equal time:
Leonardo's Father: "Young man, if you can't pick one thing and stick to it, you'll never be good at ANYTHING."
Kinkade's mother should lighten up.
ReplyDeleteSorry, one more...
ReplyDeleteSargent's Mother: (whispering) "Johnny, if you even breathe to any of these charming gentlemen that I'm old enough to be your mother, I'll ship you off to military school before you know what hit you...!"
Kinkade....soo many things I want to say! arghhhh..
ReplyDeleteIt's like eating potato chips...
ReplyDeleteLucian Freud's Mother: "Were you playing with your paintbrush in bed again last night? This morning there was gesso caked all over your sheets. Maybe your grandfather is right, and I SHOULD take it away from you!"
La Mère de Magritte: "Très bon, René! Ceci est un beau dessin d'un serpent. Que? Ceci n'est pas un serpent? Bien sûr. Ceci est un cheval, comment sot de moi. Ceci n'est pas un cheval? Est-cet un arbre? Une trompette? Une locomotive? Quoi que c'est, c'est très joli!"
ReplyDeleteMater of Willendorf: "Yes, I nursed him until he was 12. What's wrong with that?"
ReplyDeleteRemington's Mother: "Frederic, I WON'T let you grow up to be a cowboy! If I wanted you to be common I would have let your father put a 'K' at the end of your name."
ReplyDeleteVan Gogh's Mother: "Theo, I want to give your brother some money, but don't tell him it's from me! Let Vincent think you sold one of his paintings."
Haring's Mother: "KEITH HARING!!! You get in here and clean off this wall RIGHT NOW, mister!"
Koons' Mother: "Darling, OF COURSE I don't think you're an empty, soulless fraud! I was talking about...Jeff Nesbitt! You remember, Mrs. Nesbitt's nephew, we met him that year at the beach?"
Micaelangelo's Mother: "OOOFF! Sorry, bambino, but you're getting too big to sit in Mamma's lap anymore!"
ReplyDeleteToulose Lautrec's Mother: "I suppose you're off to the Moulin Rouge to drink and chase floozies again. I guess that once the sun goes down, Mother's Day is no different from any other day."
I should whine about comments more often!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Neil. I imagine she had her hands full.
Thanks, Lesley. I wish i could've done one this year.
David! I've read that- it's good. There's a fine short one by Hesketh Pearson, and another called Beyond the Myth that I've heard is good too.
Mike and Cheese, can anyone argue the merits of an artist whose work is in the home of 1 in 20 Americans?
Fritzoid,what can I say? It is like eating peanuts. And it's easier than it looks, but don't tell anyone.
Great-Grandma Moses: "Anna will be fine, she just needs to find herself. She's a late bloomer, that's all."
ReplyDeleteBosch's Mother: "Jerry, you shouldn't eat so much gouda right before bedtime! You know it gives you bad dreams."
Keane's Mother: "No, you can't have any ice cream! Stop it! Don't you dare give me 'the eyes'! You know I'm a pushover for those eyes!"
ReplyDeleteI will tell you about certain family members and their love of Mr.Kinkade.
ReplyDeleteMy house is not the one of twenty. I do have art by Jack Kirby, Will Eisner, Sergio Aragones, Walt Kelly,Al Williamson, Don Rosa , and a Mr Richard Thompson but nooo Kinkade originals or fakes... am I missing out?
Maude Lebowski's Step-Mother: "For a thousand dollars I'll..."
ReplyDeleteRubens' Mother: "Remember, Peter Paul, if a girl hasn't learned to eat, she'll never learn to cook. And if she's got a good appetite at the dinner table, she'll have a good appetite in the other room as well, if you know what I mean."
ReplyDelete