By Michael Green
(Six in a series of local history)
MILTON, Ga. | The following is a transcription of a Facebook chat that took place a few years ago. Nancy Liddell Simpson and I are first cousins. While I was having a Sunday morning breakfast, Nancy sent me a chat message.
Nancy: Hey cuz! I need your help! Was it the Mona Lisa or Whistler’s Mother that your parents took us to see in Atlanta (when we were children)?
Mike: Hey Nancy! Good morning! It was Whistler’s Mother at The High Museum. Good memory!
Nancy: Thanks! It is something so significant that happened in my life…that’s why I wanted to get it right. I remember standing there thinking how lucky I was to be seeing such a piece of history. I remember being in awe.
Mike: I think about it and can’t imagine that many of our friends and relatives got to do that. Kind of unusual at that time…
Nancy: I knew the Mona Lisa had another name; I was just about to Google Whistler’s Mother and see what it was and also where it was housed. Thanks! I do remember it being big…but I didn’t know if that was just because we were little and it just seemed that way. LOL!!! What a great thing to have done in our lives!
Mike: “Whistler’s Mother” is the common name for the painting. The real name is Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 and it is part of the permanent collection at the Musee d’Orsay in Paris, France. If I remember correctly, it is huge! I don’t think that it tours very often, so we participated in a rare event. You are right, I really have to appreciate that my parents went the extra mile. I was blessed. By the way, do you mind if I use this chat in a blog?
Nancy: I would be honored!!!
Mike: I thought the same thing about being little myself. (It is 4’9″ X 5’4”) I really appreciate your bringing this up.
It was the Fall of 1962. I think it has had two or three other U.S. trips. It is called “an American icon” and the American “Mona Lisa.”
Nancy: Have a great Sunday! Love you!
(Nancy ends chat to attend church.)
On June 3, 1962, 106 Atlanta arts patrons died in an airplane crash at Orly Airport in Paris, France. They were on a trip sponsored by the High Museum of Art. A total of 130 people were killed in that horrible crash. Many prominent Atlantans were killed. To honor those killed in the 1962 crash, the Atlanta Memorial Arts Center was built for the High. The French government donated a Rodin sculpture The Shade to the High in memory of the victims of the crash. The Atlanta arts patrons had viewed “Whistler’s Mother” at the Louvre. As a gesture of goodwill to the people of Atlanta, the Louvre sent “Whistler’s Mother” for exhibition at the High Museum of Art. We (Michael Green and Nancy Liddell Simpson) were two youngsters in the crowd that Fall of 1962.
My wife, Mary, and I also enjoyed viewing the masterpiece in April 2023 at the Musee d’Orsay in Paris.
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