Web photo courtesy of Wikipedia

The new issue of the New Yorker magazine has a short article about James Whistler’s durable portrait of his mother, speculating on why the painting is on the short list of iconic images in art history. The reporter, unfortunately, skips a mention of where the artist was born, so our community was left out of the piece. Whistler himself is supposed to have said or written that he “preferred to be born in Baltimore,” but Lowell folks were smart to save the house on Worthen Street where he met his mother. Kudos to the forward-thinkers of that time. And the Whistler House Museum of Art has an impressive copy of the famous painting done by a cousin of the painter’s.

The Whistler House Museum is taking reservations for a bus trip to see the painting, now on loan from the Muse’e d’Orsay in Paris to the Clark Institute of Art in Williamstown. Contact the Museum about availability of seats.

Here’s the link to the NYr article.