Whistler’s Mustelid - after James McNeill Whistler Sculpture

This piece is part of an exhibition, Getting Under the Skin, currently showing at the Westminster Arts Reference Library situated in London’s West End just behind the National Gallery. The show features 10 famous works of art reimagined by Field and Young as taxidermy tableaux to reflect the Library’s vast art and design collection. The American artist James McNeill Whistler settled in London in his mid twenties. In 1871 he featured his mother Anna McNeill Whistler in a painting he unsentimentally called “Arrangement in Grey and Black No 1” but which posterity knows better as “Whistler’s Mother”. The image became so iconic that it featured on a Depression era postage stamp in the USA. Field & Young’s recreation features an American mink. Like Whistler himself it was a US import, being introduced to the UK for use in fur factories (now happily illegal), from which some of the animals escaped into the wild. The mink reclines in an antique doll’s chair. The dress is velveteen, modified from second-hand baby clothes. The backdrop is painted on moisture-resistant hardboard.

Multi-paneled Sculpture:Taxidermy on Wood

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:27.6 W x 27.6 H x 7.9 D in

Number of Pieces:2

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.