The Art Critic of the "Times,"
Evidence at Westminster, Nov. 16, 1878.
44.—ARRANGEMENT IN GREY AND BLACK.
Portrait of the Painter's Mother.
Photograph of Picture.
"This canvas is large and much of it vacant.
"A dim, cold light fills the room, where the flat, grey wall is only broken by a solitary picture in black and white; a piece of foldless, creaseless, Oriental flowered crape hangs from the cornice. And here, in this solemn chamber, sits the lady in mournful garb. The picture has found few admirers among the thousands who seek to while away the hours at Burlington House, and for this result the painter has only to thank himself."—Times.
"'Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother,' is another of Mr. Whistler's experiments.
"It is not a picture, and we fail to discover any object that the artist can have in view in restricting himself almost entirely to black and grey."—Examiner.
"The 'arrangement' is stiff and ugly enough to repel many."—Hour.
"Before such pictures as the full-length portraits by Mr. Whistler, critic and spectator are alike puzzled. Criticism and admiration seem alike impossible, and the mind vacillates between a feeling that the artist is playing a practical joke upon the spectator, or that the painter is suffering from some peculiar optical delusion. After all, there are certain accepted canons about what constitutes good drawing, good colour, and good painting, and when an artist deliberately sets himself to ignore or violate all of these, it is desirable that his work should not be classed with that of ordinary artists."—Times.