©R. O. Blechman
R.O. Blechman has appropriated some of the most popular and easily recognizable images of the modern world, such as Whistler’s Mother (Arrangement in Grey and Black: The Artist’s Mother, 1871) and Rodin’s The Thinker, created as part of the sculptor’s Gates of Hell, ca.1898. For his May 14, 1990 New Yorker cover, Blechman posed his iconic version of Anna MacNeil Whistler on her chair being offered tributes (flowers, candy, and theater tickets) from Lilliputian-sized children. This cover reflected our cultural response to Mother’s Day, with husbands and children scurrying to offer tribute.
