“Who painted Whistler’s mother?” (riddle/joke)

Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1, or Whistler’s Mother is a famous 1871 painting by James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903). “Whistler’s mother was painted by what famous artist?” is a riddle and joke that was printed in The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY) on July 2, 1942. The answer, of course, is “Whistler.”
 
     
Wikipedia: Whistler’s Mother
Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1, best known under its colloquial name Whistler’s Mother, is a painting in oils on canvas created by the American-born painter James McNeill Whistler in 1871. The subject of the painting is Whistler’s mother, Anna McNeill Whistler. The painting is 56.81 by 63.94 inches (144.3 cm × 162.4 cm), displayed in a frame of Whistler’s own design. It is exhibited in Louvre Abu Dhabi and held by the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, having been bought by the French state in 1891. It is one of the most famous works by an American artist outside the United States. It has been variously described as an American icon and a Victorian Mona Lisa.
 
Wikipedia: James Abbott McNeil Whistler
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (/ˈwɪslər/; July 11, 1834 – July 17, 1903) was an American artist, active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He was averse to sentimentality and moral allusion in painting, and was a leading proponent of the credo “art for art’s sake”. His famous signature for his paintings was in the shape of a stylized butterfly possessing a long stinger for a tail. The symbol was apt, for it combined both aspects of his personality: his art is characterized by a subtle delicacy, while his public persona was combative. He found a parallel between painting and music and entitled many of his paintings “arrangements”, “harmonies”, and “nocturnes”, emphasizing the primacy of tonal harmony. His most famous painting is Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (1871), commonly known as Whistler’s Mother, the revered and often parodied portrait of motherhood.
 
Newspapers.com
2 July 1942, The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY), Jack Bunker column, sec. 2, pg. 15, col. 7:
What’s Your I. Q.?
Welcome relief to the “smarty-pants” quiz shows is the new quiz, It Pays to Be Ignorant, heard over WGRC at 8:30. Here are some of the brain testers posed by Tom Howard and George Shelton on this program planned for “anyone that is tired of matching wits with walking encyclopedias.” First question: “What famous American general is buried in Grant’s tomb?” “Whistler’s mother was painted by what famous artist?” Sounds easy? Believe it or not, they’ve stumped several.
   
Google Books
The Ugglians at Large:
Second Book of Ugg
By L. M. Fallaw
New York, NY: Philosophical library
1959
Pg. 58:
By answering a few questions (such as “Who painted Whistler’s Mother?”), a selected heathen could win thousands of bucks.
 
Twitter
Peter Segal
@pete_segal
Okay. Asked my daughter @nikki_segal dumbest question of the year. Who painted Whistler’s Mother?… https://instagram.com/p/3mSWAcnxCD/
2:45 PM · Jun 6, 2015·Instagram
 
Twitter
the ball whacker
@npnthr
Today’s trivia fail was having to look up who painted Whistler’s Mother. The answer: Whistler 😕
1:13 PM · Nov 1, 2015 from Ottawa, Ontario·Twitter for Android
 
Twitter
Aaron Dunlap
@AMD_808
Replying to @BTP1960
that cannot be SHS’s actual response, plus I would like a reporter to SHS 1) Who painted Whistler’s Mother? 2) How long the 100 year war lasted? and 3) Who was buried in Grant’s Tomb?
9:52 PM · Jun 7, 2018·Twitter Web Client