We at DrumOrDie.com didn’t know until recently that the subject of the painting, Whistler’s Mother, was indeed a drummer of high regard. The artist, American-born James McNeill Whistler, painted his otherwise seemingly tepid mother, Anna McNeill Whistler, in 1871 while she numbly clutched a pair of drumsticks and sat rather curtly in a chair next to a painting of what apparently was her very own beloved Traps A400 flat, portable drum kit.
Yea, did she but prefer portable drums?
According to Sir Philip Kensington, the curator for the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, where the painting resides,”Mrs. Whistler had a strong preference for the Traps flat and portable drums. Being a member of the fairer sex, who even then was somewhat slight of frame and, dare I say, indeed even a trifle frail, it was much more accommodating for the lady to use the Traps A400 drum kit, being that it was so light and amenable to transport. She was known to be seen conveying her Traps drums in and out of her carriage as she traveled to perform at the various taverns of the local townships, and even to the larger concerto venues. To be certain, M’Lady was, even by today’s standards, indisputably somewhat of a bad-ass on the drums.”
Wherefore, then, is her throne?
Art historians have pondered and puzzled the obvious question for years: If Anna McNeill Whistler was indeed such a force on the drums, why, perchance, is she seated in a simple wooden chair instead of kick-ass throne, like a Pork Pie Big Boy or a Rock-N-Soc hydraulic throne? According to Kensington, “She was somewhat of a traditionalist in that she didn’t go for the fancier seating arrangements, preferring instead a simple, handmade maple high-back chair from which she would kick out her respective jams.”
About the painting
One of the more famous works by an American artist, the 57-by-64-inch painting is an oil-on-canvas displayed in a frame designed by Whistler. The Traps A400 drums are shell-less drums that are light and portable and tend to kick ass.