James Abbott McNeill Whistler

James Abbott McNeill Whistler RBA (; July 11, 1834 – July 17, 1903) was an American painter alert during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading proponent of the credo "art for art's sake". His signature for his paintings took the disturb of a stylized butterfly possessing a long stinger for a tail. The symbol collective both aspects of his personality: his art is marked by a subtle delicacy, while his public persona was combative. He found a parallel amid painting and music, and entitled many of his paintings "arrangements", "harmonies", and "nocturnes", emphasizing the primacy of tonal harmony. His most well-known painting, Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (1871), commonly known as Whistler's Mother, is a revered and often parodied portrait of motherhood. Whistler influenced the art world and the broader culture of his time following his theories and his friendships with other leading artists and writers.

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