Persistent Creativity
- sarah
- Apr 8, 2024
- 1 min read
When the painter James McNeill Whistler (“Whistler’s Mother” portrait) was a cadet at West Point, he was assigned to draw a bridge in an engineering class.
Whistler drew a spectacular bridge and included two boys fishing from it. His deliberate inclusion displeased the instructor, who ordered him to draw it again -- without the young fishermen on the bridge.
Whistler did as he was instructed, and drew the bridge again, this time with the boys fishing from the riverbank.
Told he would not receive a passing grade if the two boys were included anywhere in his drawing, Whistler handed in the drawing one more time, without the two boys anywhere to be seen. However, on the riverbank, each displaying the name of a single boy, were two small headstones.
The above incident is but one of several different stories told as to why Whistler was expelled from West Point.
Whistler's personal signature was a beautiful butterfly with a long stinger, intended to illustrate both aspects of himself.
