James McNeill Whistler was an American expatriate painter based in London whose work bridged Realism, Aestheticism, and proto-Impressionism. His famous quarrel with John Ruskin — who accused him of 'flinging a pot of paint in the public's face' — led to a celebrated libel trial that Whistler won, though it left him bankrupt. His Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, universally known as 'Whistler's Mother,' is one of the most recognized paintings in American art history, though Whistler always insisted it should be appreciated for its formal qualities, not its sentiment.
