James Whistler (1834-1903). 1882 illustration of the US painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Whistler was a leading proponent of art for art's sake, a philosophy that the intrinsic value of art and the only 'true' art, is divorced from any didactic moral or utilitarian function. He was active during the American Gilded Age and was based primarily in the UK. His most famous work is 'Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1', better known as 'Whistler's Mother'.