GENERAL DESCRIPTION
In his art and life, Mark Tobey gracefully blended Eastern and Western beliefs and values, seeking to join the physical and the spiritual worlds. As a young boy growing up along the banks of the Mississippi in Wisconsin, Tobey developed his keen observation of and deep respect for the outer, visible world of nature. He was equally dedicated to his spiritual life. This commitment led him to convert in 1918 to the Baha'i World Faith, which emphasizes the unity of all creation; similar values are to be found in Zen Buddhism, which he studied in Japan. While in a Buddhist monastery in Kyoto in 1934, Tobey practiced Japanese calligraphy, which inspired his invention of what came to be known as 'white writing,' the foundation of his abstract, mature works of the 1930s [1971.88]. He pioneered a particular kind of overall, defocused composition that anticipated Jackson Pollock's all-over compositions of the late 1940s. From the late 1940s to the early 1950s, Tobey tended to paint his works in dark, somber colors, though he retained something of his calligraphic style. It was during the 1950's that Tobey received international recognition as one of America's foremost painters. In 1951 a large retrospective of his works was held in San Francisco and New York.
In 1958 he was awarded the Grand International Painting Prize at the Venice Biennale. In 1960 Tobey settled in Basel, where he remained until his death. His style remained constant during the 1960s, although in response to museum pressure he increased the size of his paintings. He continued to work in spite of being dogged by ill-health in later life. Throughout his career, Tobey's art never stagnated into formalism, nor did it ever lose contact with the world of the senses. Drawing from life remained a necessary discipline for Tobey and alternated with his abstract work. The form and imagery in his "white writing," and the tonality of the ground on which it appears, made it possible for Tobey to preserve a precarious allusion to the natural world.
Adapted from
- Suzanne Weaver, "Echoes of Broadway," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Suzanne Kotz (Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art, 1997), 278.
- DMA unpublished material.
NOTES
- Fun Fact source: Namiko Kunimoto, "The Buddhist Hero," in Between Action and the Unknown: The Art of Kazuo Shiraga and Sadamasa Motonaga, ed. Gabriel Ritter (Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art, 2015), 75.
- Review the UMO for the Image Asset
- DMA unpublished material = "Primitivism Biographies," DMA research document, Education files, n.d.
Jeelan's notes:
Mark Tobey was born on December 11, 1890, in Centerville, Wisconsin. From 1906 to 1908 he attended Saturday classes at The Art Institute of Chicago. In 1911 Tobey moved to New York, where he worked as a fashion illustrator for McCall’s magazine. His first one-man show was held at M. Knoedler & Co., New York, in 1917.
Exploding with the energy and vitality of the city, Tobey's white writing was used as a formal device and as a way to reveal the dynamic force of light. An intricate network of fine white lines, flowing but controlled, moves forward and backward in a sensuous field of blue; thick, short, white lines create surface tension and depth. Here Tobey captures the congestion and complexity of city life. The viewer is looking at the lights of the city at once from above and on the streets, experiencing its pulsating energy. Since he first saw the crowded streets of Hong Kong and Shanghai, the interconnection and interdependency of urban life was an important theme for Tobey, who found the city to be a vital, living organism.
Suzanne Weaver, "Echoes of Broadway," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Suzanne Kotz (Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art, 1997), 278.
Prior to the emergence of the New York School, the Wisconsin-born artist Mark Tobey had begun to develop his own abstract style as early as 1918. Working then as an interior designer in New York, he converted to Baha'i, a religion which teaches the oneness of mankind. Tobey later devoted time to studying Chinese brush calligraphy, and then touring the Far East, spending a month in a Zen monastery in Kyoto. After his return from the East in 1936, he began his "white writing," evident in Calligraphy in White. Emerging into a field of intricate, autonomous line drawing, the image here expresses Tobey's religious conviction that space is as vital with spiritual and physical energy as solid matter. - untitled document in object file
American painter. In 1893 the family moved to Jacksonville, TN, but because of the poor educational facilities there they returned a year later to Wisconsin. Moving again in 1906 to Hammond, IN, Tobey attended high school and on Saturdays travelled to Chicago to study the techniques of watercolour and oil painting at the Art Institute of Chicago; this was his only formal art training. In 1909 the family moved to Chicago, where, because of his father’s illness, he was forced to give up his studies and find employment. After various jobs he eventually became a fashion illustrator. During this period he discovered the great art of the past, first through reproductions and then by visiting the Art Institute of Chicago. He was especially attracted to Italian Renaissance paintings and to works by a variety of artists including Frans Hals, John Singer Sargent, and Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida.
In 1911 Tobey moved to New York, where he worked as a fashion illustrator for McCalls magazine. Returning in 1912 to Chicago, in 1913 he saw the Armory Show at the Art Institute, though he learned little from it. From 1913 to 1917 he divided his time between New York and Chicago, still working as a fashion illustrator and developing a reputation for his portrait drawings in charcoal. Numbering the singer Mary Garden, Muriel Draper, and Anthony Drexel Biddle among his sitters, he showed his portraits at his first one-man exhibition in 1907 at the Knoedler Gallery in New York. Reluctant, however, to follow this career, he started working as an interior designer while pursuing independent studies in his spare time.
In 1918 Tobey converted to the Bahai faith, to which he had been introduced by the portrait painter Juliet Thompson earlier that year. His adherence to the faith, which took as its central tenets a belief in the unity of all religions and mankind and in the progressive revelation of God through a series of prophets, was profound and permanent. Although its link with his painting took some time to develop fully, it lies behind all his succeeding works. At this time he saw the works of William Blake in the Morgan Library in New York; under that influence and that of Michelangelo he painted the violent watercolour Conflict of the Satanic and Celestial Gods (1918; Seattle, WA, priv. col., see Dahl and others, p. 60), which points to the danger of ignoring the Bahai quest for unity.
After moving in 1922 to Seattle, where he taught at the Cornish School, Tobey came to understand Cubism. In 1923 he met the Chinese painter Deng Kui, who taught him techniques of Chinese calligraphy. This period was one of great experimentation for Tobey; one of the few surviving works of this period, a pastel Self-portrait (early 1920s; Seattle, WA, H. M. Hathaway priv. col., see 1959 exh. cat., fig.), reveals his adoption from Cubism of overlapping planes. In 1925, dissatisfied with his work, he travelled to Europe, staying first in Paris. There he met Gertrude Stein, visited the Louvre and produced such works as a portrait in conté crayon of the pianist Paul McCool (1925; Seattle, WA, A. Mus.). The following year he travelled to Spain, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, and Egypt. On his return to the USA he divided his time from 1926 to 1930 between New York, Chicago, and Seattle, while still working at the Cornish School.
Tobey’s teaching job came under threat with the onset of the Depression, and in 1930 he accepted an invitation to teach and paint in England at Dartington Hall, Devon. He remained based there until 1938, meeting, among others, Bernard Leach, Rabindranath Tagore, and the novelists Aldous Huxley and Pearl S. Buck. During his time in England he regularly travelled abroad: in 1931 to Mexico; in 1932 to Haifa and Acca, visiting Bahai sites; and with Leach in 1934 to Hong Kong and other parts of China, where he again studied calligraphy with Deng Kui in Shanghai, and to Japan, including a stay at a Zen Buddhist monastery in Kyoto. On his return to England he began using a technique of ‘white writing’ in works such as the Broadway (tempera, 1936; New York, Met.). In this painting, alluding to the colour and activity of New York, he used swift calligraphic brushstrokes, mostly in white, on a variously coloured background.
In 1938 Tobey returned to Seattle via New York. Throughout the 1940s he developed ‘white writing’ in such frenetic works as Red Man, White Man, Black Man (1945; Seattle, WA, A. Mus.). The vast mass of individuals that formed E Pluribus Unum (1942; Seattle, WA, A. Mus.) was designed to suggest the latent unity between them, in keeping with the Bahai faith. He continued also to paint in other styles, as in Still-life with Egg (1941; Seattle, WA, A. Mus.), which again suggests the influence of Cubism, especially of Juan Gris. Furthermore, in keeping with the Bahai belief in the validity of other religions, Tobey occasionally addressed Christian themes, such asDeposition (1947; Seattle, WA, G. Miyake priv. col., see 1974 exh. cat., pl. 13), which consists of highly simplified forms.
From the late 1940s to the early 1950s Tobey tended to paint his works in dark, sombre colours, as in Biography (1948; Stanford, CA, U. A.G. & Mus.), though he retained something of his calligraphic style. His ‘white writing’ soon re-emerged, however, in such classic works as the Edge of August (1953; New York, MOMA). Here, a mass of fine white brushstrokes covers almost the whole of the canvas, showing the full development of this technique. In 1954 he moved to New York and painted the serene Meditative Series (e.g. Meditative Series VIII, 1954; priv. col., see Dahl and others, p. 89). In 1955 he visited Europe, where he exhibited with avant-garde artists such as Georges Mathieu and Wols. In 1957 he produced a number of paintings using Japanese black ink, for example Sumi I (1957; Stanford, CA, U. A.G. & Mus.), and in the following year he was awarded the Grand International Painting Prize at the Venice Biennale, confirming his reputation in Europe.
After a brief visit to Seattle Tobey decided in 1960 to settle in Basle, where he remained until his death. His style remained constant during the 1960s, although in response to museum pressure he increased the size of his paintings. Among his later works is the monumental Sagittarius Red(1963; Basle, Kstmus.), often claimed as his masterpiece, in which he used densely packed brushstrokes in ink and other media on a red background. He continued to work almost until his death, in spite of being dogged by ill-health in later life, producing such pictures as Coming and Going (1970; Buffalo, NY, Albright–Knox A.G.).
Tobey’s paintings have often been described as intimate versions of the paintings of Jackson Pollock, because of their elegant gestural quality and small size. In origin, however, they are quite dissimilar, founded not on the artist’s individual psyche but on a universalist religion. The comparison, furthermore, suggests that Tobey’s style grew out of Pollock’s, when in fact the relationship between the two artists was much more reciprocal. In spirit, if not in style, Tobey’s paintings are closer to a European tradition of abstract painting that includes the impersonal calm of Mondrian’s work. While enjoying great critical support in Europe, notably from Michel Tapié,Tobey’s reception in America was somewhat cooler. More specifically his contribution to American art was frequently marginalized by influential New York critics, perhaps because of a lack of sympathy for his religious beliefs and because of his rejection of the substance of Abstract Expressionism.
Bibliography
C. Roberts: Mark Tobey (Paris, 1959)
Mark Tobey: A Retrospective Exhibition from Northwest Collections (exh. cat. by E. B. Thomas, Seattle, WA, A. Mus., 1959)
F. Choay: Mark Tobey (Paris, 1961)
Mark Tobey (exh. cat. by F. Mathey, Paris, Mus. A. Déc., 1961)
Mark Tobey (exh. cat. by W. C. Seitz, New York, MOMA, 1962)
W. Schmied: Mark Tobey (London, 1966)
Tribute to Mark Tobey (exh. cat. by J. C. Taylor, Washington, DC, Hirshhorn, 1974)
J. Haslem: Mark Tobey Graphics (Washington, DC, 1979)
A. L. Dahl and others: Mark Tobey: Art and Belief (Oxford, 1984)
Mark Tobey: City Paintings (exh. cat. by E. E. Rathbone, Washington, DC, N.G.A., 1984)
Mark Tobey: Works, 1935–1975 (exh. cat. by M. Bärmann and others, Essen, Mus. Flkwang, 1989)
Mark Tobey (exh. cat. by K. M. de Barañano Letamendía and M. Bärmann, Madrid, Mus. N. Cent. A. Reina Sofia, 1997) [text in Sp. and Eng.]
Sounds of the Inner Eye: John Cage, Mark Tobey, Morris Graves (exh. cat. by W. Herzogenrath and A.Kreul, Bremen, Ksthalle, Tacoma, WA, Museum of Glass: International Center for Contemporary Art, 2002)
Northwest Mythologies: The Interactions of Mark Tobey, Morris Graves, Kenneth Callahan, and Guy Anderson (exh. cat. by S. Conkleton and L. Landau, Seattle, WA, Tacoma, WA, A. Mus., 2003)
Mark Tobey: Light Space (exh. cat. by W. Wehr, Münster, Hachmeister Galerie, 2004–5)
Philip Cooper
Beginning his career as an illustrator, Tobey was a deeply religious man, converting to the universalist Baha'i faith in 1918, which would in some way influence all of his works. After extensive traveling, including a period of time at a Zen monastary in Japan, Tobey taught art and philosophy at Dartington Hall in England until 1937. He then developed his "white writing" technique, painting white cursive writing on dark canvas, a technique which he would use extensively until his death. As an Abstract Expressionist, Tobey's work and career stand out as different because of his strong spiritual beliefs, as well as his varying interests (he was also a classically trained pianist). Amercan artist; resident artist Darlington Hall, Eng., 1931-1937.
Mark Tobey was an American painter who was sometimes called the least
American of American painters. He worked in neither a violent or an
expressive manner. His paintings are remarkable for the meticulous care of
their execution and the refinement of their color, a result of the almost
exclusive use of the techniques of watercolor, tempera and pastels.
Mainly self-taught, Tobey was originally a commercial artist. In 1918 he
was converted to the Baha'i faith and his interest in, oriental philosophy,
religion, calligraphy and woodcuts subsequently dominated much of his
career'. In the mid-1930's he developed the "white writings", which
consisted of a network of calligraphic markings in white ink against a
colored background.
It was during the 1950's that Tobey received international recognition as
one of America's foremost painters. In 1951 a large retrospective of his
works was held in San Francisco and New York. Throughout his career,
Tobey's art never ossified into formalism, nor did it ever lose contact
with the world of the senses. Drawing from life remained a necessary
discipline for Tobey, and alternated with his abstract work. The form and
imagery in his "white writing", and the tonality of the ground on which it
appears, made it possible for Tobey to preserve a precarious and precious
allusion to the natural world.
Excerpt from
"Primitivism Biographies," DMA research document, Education files, n.d.
ASSOCIATED CONTENT CHUNKS (list applicable note links)
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
Photograph of Mark Tobey in 1964.
Source: Erling Mandelmann, photo©ErlingMandelmann.ch, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Generic License, Wikimedia Commons, accessed July 14, 2016.
UMO: 265933167 ** Review
_by_Erling_Mandelmann.jpg){kind=link}
WEB RESOURCES
- Arts Et Culture YouTube Channel~Watch the brief documentary "Mark Tobey Abroad" (1973).
- Guggenheim~Read more about Mark Tobey.
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES (digitized/non-digitized)
FUN FACTS
- In 1935, American painter Mark Tobey studied meditation at the Zen monastery Enryaku-ji in Kyoto, Japan, the same monastery at which the Japanese experimental performance artist and painter Kazuo Shiraga studied 36 years later in 1971.
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
set operator as OR
apply to objects where constituent_id equals 1436
apply to constituents where id equals 1436
Category
rules_operator
OR
General Description
In his art and life, Mark Tobey gracefully blended Eastern and Western beliefs and values, seeking to join the physical and the spiritual worlds. As a young boy growing up along the banks of the Mississippi in Wisconsin, Tobey developed his keen observation of and deep respect for the outer, visible world of nature. He was equally dedicated to his spiritual life. This commitment led him to convert in 1918 to the Baha'i World Faith, which emphasizes the unity of all creation; similar values are to be found in Zen Buddhism, which he studied in Japan. While in a Buddhist monastery in Kyoto in 1934, Tobey practiced Japanese calligraphy, which inspired his invention of what came to be known as 'white writing,' the foundation of his abstract, mature works of the 1930s [1971.88]. He pioneered a particular kind of overall, defocused composition that anticipated Jackson Pollock's all-over compositions of the late 1940s. From the late 1940s to the early 1950s, Tobey tended to paint his works in dark, somber colors, though he retained something of his calligraphic style. It was during the 1950's that Tobey received international recognition as one of America's foremost painters. In 1951 a large retrospective of his works was held in San Francisco and New York.
In 1958 he was awarded the Grand International Painting Prize at the Venice Biennale. In 1960 Tobey settled in Basel, where he remained until his death. His style remained constant during the 1960s, although in response to museum pressure he increased the size of his paintings. He continued to work in spite of being dogged by ill-health in later life. Throughout his career, Tobey's art never stagnated into formalism, nor did it ever lose contact with the world of the senses. Drawing from life remained a necessary discipline for Tobey and alternated with his abstract work. The form and imagery in his "white writing," and the tonality of the ground on which it appears, made it possible for Tobey to preserve a precarious allusion to the natural world.
Adapted from
- Suzanne Weaver, "Echoes of Broadway," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Suzanne Kotz (Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art, 1997), 278.
- DMA unpublished material.
Fun Facts
- In 1935, American painter Mark Tobey studied meditation at the Zen monastery Enryaku-ji in Kyoto, Japan, the same monastery at which the Japanese experimental performance artist and painter Kazuo Shiraga studied 36 years later in 1971.
Archival Resources
(digitized/non-digitized)
Web Resources
- Arts Et Culture YouTube Channel~Watch the brief documentary "Mark Tobey Abroad" (1973).
- Guggenheim~Read more about Mark Tobey.
Notes
- Fun Fact source: Namiko Kunimoto, "The Buddhist Hero," in Between Action and the Unknown: The Art of Kazuo Shiraga and Sadamasa Motonaga, ed. Gabriel Ritter (Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art, 2015), 75.
- Review the UMO for the Image Asset
- DMA unpublished material = "Primitivism Biographies," DMA research document, Education files, n.d.
Jeelan's notes:
Mark Tobey was born on December 11, 1890, in Centerville, Wisconsin. From 1906 to 1908 he attended Saturday classes at The Art Institute of Chicago. In 1911 Tobey moved to New York, where he worked as a fashion illustrator for McCall’s magazine. His first one-man show was held at M. Knoedler & Co., New York, in 1917.
Exploding with the energy and vitality of the city, Tobey's white writing was used as a formal device and as a way to reveal the dynamic force of light. An intricate network of fine white lines, flowing but controlled, moves forward and backward in a sensuous field of blue; thick, short, white lines create surface tension and depth. Here Tobey captures the congestion and complexity of city life. The viewer is looking at the lights of the city at once from above and on the streets, experiencing its pulsating energy. Since he first saw the crowded streets of Hong Kong and Shanghai, the interconnection and interdependency of urban life was an important theme for Tobey, who found the city to be a vital, living organism.
Suzanne Weaver, "Echoes of Broadway," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Suzanne Kotz (Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art, 1997), 278.
Prior to the emergence of the New York School, the Wisconsin-born artist Mark Tobey had begun to develop his own abstract style as early as 1918. Working then as an interior designer in New York, he converted to Baha'i, a religion which teaches the oneness of mankind. Tobey later devoted time to studying Chinese brush calligraphy, and then touring the Far East, spending a month in a Zen monastery in Kyoto. After his return from the East in 1936, he began his "white writing," evident in Calligraphy in White. Emerging into a field of intricate, autonomous line drawing, the image here expresses Tobey's religious conviction that space is as vital with spiritual and physical energy as solid matter. - untitled document in object file
American painter. In 1893 the family moved to Jacksonville, TN, but because of the poor educational facilities there they returned a year later to Wisconsin. Moving again in 1906 to Hammond, IN, Tobey attended high school and on Saturdays travelled to Chicago to study the techniques of watercolour and oil painting at the Art Institute of Chicago; this was his only formal art training. In 1909 the family moved to Chicago, where, because of his father’s illness, he was forced to give up his studies and find employment. After various jobs he eventually became a fashion illustrator. During this period he discovered the great art of the past, first through reproductions and then by visiting the Art Institute of Chicago. He was especially attracted to Italian Renaissance paintings and to works by a variety of artists including Frans Hals, John Singer Sargent, and Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida.
In 1911 Tobey moved to New York, where he worked as a fashion illustrator for McCalls magazine. Returning in 1912 to Chicago, in 1913 he saw the Armory Show at the Art Institute, though he learned little from it. From 1913 to 1917 he divided his time between New York and Chicago, still working as a fashion illustrator and developing a reputation for his portrait drawings in charcoal. Numbering the singer Mary Garden, Muriel Draper, and Anthony Drexel Biddle among his sitters, he showed his portraits at his first one-man exhibition in 1907 at the Knoedler Gallery in New York. Reluctant, however, to follow this career, he started working as an interior designer while pursuing independent studies in his spare time.
In 1918 Tobey converted to the Bahai faith, to which he had been introduced by the portrait painter Juliet Thompson earlier that year. His adherence to the faith, which took as its central tenets a belief in the unity of all religions and mankind and in the progressive revelation of God through a series of prophets, was profound and permanent. Although its link with his painting took some time to develop fully, it lies behind all his succeeding works. At this time he saw the works of William Blake in the Morgan Library in New York; under that influence and that of Michelangelo he painted the violent watercolour Conflict of the Satanic and Celestial Gods (1918; Seattle, WA, priv. col., see Dahl and others, p. 60), which points to the danger of ignoring the Bahai quest for unity.
After moving in 1922 to Seattle, where he taught at the Cornish School, Tobey came to understand Cubism. In 1923 he met the Chinese painter Deng Kui, who taught him techniques of Chinese calligraphy. This period was one of great experimentation for Tobey; one of the few surviving works of this period, a pastel Self-portrait (early 1920s; Seattle, WA, H. M. Hathaway priv. col., see 1959 exh. cat., fig.), reveals his adoption from Cubism of overlapping planes. In 1925, dissatisfied with his work, he travelled to Europe, staying first in Paris. There he met Gertrude Stein, visited the Louvre and produced such works as a portrait in conté crayon of the pianist Paul McCool (1925; Seattle, WA, A. Mus.). The following year he travelled to Spain, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, and Egypt. On his return to the USA he divided his time from 1926 to 1930 between New York, Chicago, and Seattle, while still working at the Cornish School.
Tobey’s teaching job came under threat with the onset of the Depression, and in 1930 he accepted an invitation to teach and paint in England at Dartington Hall, Devon. He remained based there until 1938, meeting, among others, Bernard Leach, Rabindranath Tagore, and the novelists Aldous Huxley and Pearl S. Buck. During his time in England he regularly travelled abroad: in 1931 to Mexico; in 1932 to Haifa and Acca, visiting Bahai sites; and with Leach in 1934 to Hong Kong and other parts of China, where he again studied calligraphy with Deng Kui in Shanghai, and to Japan, including a stay at a Zen Buddhist monastery in Kyoto. On his return to England he began using a technique of ‘white writing’ in works such as the Broadway (tempera, 1936; New York, Met.). In this painting, alluding to the colour and activity of New York, he used swift calligraphic brushstrokes, mostly in white, on a variously coloured background.
In 1938 Tobey returned to Seattle via New York. Throughout the 1940s he developed ‘white writing’ in such frenetic works as Red Man, White Man, Black Man (1945; Seattle, WA, A. Mus.). The vast mass of individuals that formed E Pluribus Unum (1942; Seattle, WA, A. Mus.) was designed to suggest the latent unity between them, in keeping with the Bahai faith. He continued also to paint in other styles, as in Still-life with Egg (1941; Seattle, WA, A. Mus.), which again suggests the influence of Cubism, especially of Juan Gris. Furthermore, in keeping with the Bahai belief in the validity of other religions, Tobey occasionally addressed Christian themes, such asDeposition (1947; Seattle, WA, G. Miyake priv. col., see 1974 exh. cat., pl. 13), which consists of highly simplified forms.
From the late 1940s to the early 1950s Tobey tended to paint his works in dark, sombre colours, as in Biography (1948; Stanford, CA, U. A.G. & Mus.), though he retained something of his calligraphic style. His ‘white writing’ soon re-emerged, however, in such classic works as the Edge of August (1953; New York, MOMA). Here, a mass of fine white brushstrokes covers almost the whole of the canvas, showing the full development of this technique. In 1954 he moved to New York and painted the serene Meditative Series (e.g. Meditative Series VIII, 1954; priv. col., see Dahl and others, p. 89). In 1955 he visited Europe, where he exhibited with avant-garde artists such as Georges Mathieu and Wols. In 1957 he produced a number of paintings using Japanese black ink, for example Sumi I (1957; Stanford, CA, U. A.G. & Mus.), and in the following year he was awarded the Grand International Painting Prize at the Venice Biennale, confirming his reputation in Europe.
After a brief visit to Seattle Tobey decided in 1960 to settle in Basle, where he remained until his death. His style remained constant during the 1960s, although in response to museum pressure he increased the size of his paintings. Among his later works is the monumental Sagittarius Red(1963; Basle, Kstmus.), often claimed as his masterpiece, in which he used densely packed brushstrokes in ink and other media on a red background. He continued to work almost until his death, in spite of being dogged by ill-health in later life, producing such pictures as Coming and Going (1970; Buffalo, NY, Albright–Knox A.G.).
Tobey’s paintings have often been described as intimate versions of the paintings of Jackson Pollock, because of their elegant gestural quality and small size. In origin, however, they are quite dissimilar, founded not on the artist’s individual psyche but on a universalist religion. The comparison, furthermore, suggests that Tobey’s style grew out of Pollock’s, when in fact the relationship between the two artists was much more reciprocal. In spirit, if not in style, Tobey’s paintings are closer to a European tradition of abstract painting that includes the impersonal calm of Mondrian’s work. While enjoying great critical support in Europe, notably from Michel Tapié,Tobey’s reception in America was somewhat cooler. More specifically his contribution to American art was frequently marginalized by influential New York critics, perhaps because of a lack of sympathy for his religious beliefs and because of his rejection of the substance of Abstract Expressionism.
Bibliography
C. Roberts: Mark Tobey (Paris, 1959)
Mark Tobey: A Retrospective Exhibition from Northwest Collections (exh. cat. by E. B. Thomas, Seattle, WA, A. Mus., 1959)
F. Choay: Mark Tobey (Paris, 1961)
Mark Tobey (exh. cat. by F. Mathey, Paris, Mus. A. Déc., 1961)
Mark Tobey (exh. cat. by W. C. Seitz, New York, MOMA, 1962)
W. Schmied: Mark Tobey (London, 1966)
Tribute to Mark Tobey (exh. cat. by J. C. Taylor, Washington, DC, Hirshhorn, 1974)
J. Haslem: Mark Tobey Graphics (Washington, DC, 1979)
A. L. Dahl and others: Mark Tobey: Art and Belief (Oxford, 1984)
Mark Tobey: City Paintings (exh. cat. by E. E. Rathbone, Washington, DC, N.G.A., 1984)
Mark Tobey: Works, 1935–1975 (exh. cat. by M. Bärmann and others, Essen, Mus. Flkwang, 1989)
Mark Tobey (exh. cat. by K. M. de Barañano Letamendía and M. Bärmann, Madrid, Mus. N. Cent. A. Reina Sofia, 1997) [text in Sp. and Eng.]
Sounds of the Inner Eye: John Cage, Mark Tobey, Morris Graves (exh. cat. by W. Herzogenrath and A.Kreul, Bremen, Ksthalle, Tacoma, WA, Museum of Glass: International Center for Contemporary Art, 2002)
Northwest Mythologies: The Interactions of Mark Tobey, Morris Graves, Kenneth Callahan, and Guy Anderson (exh. cat. by S. Conkleton and L. Landau, Seattle, WA, Tacoma, WA, A. Mus., 2003)
Mark Tobey: Light Space (exh. cat. by W. Wehr, Münster, Hachmeister Galerie, 2004–5)
Philip Cooper
Beginning his career as an illustrator, Tobey was a deeply religious man, converting to the universalist Baha'i faith in 1918, which would in some way influence all of his works. After extensive traveling, including a period of time at a Zen monastary in Japan, Tobey taught art and philosophy at Dartington Hall in England until 1937. He then developed his "white writing" technique, painting white cursive writing on dark canvas, a technique which he would use extensively until his death. As an Abstract Expressionist, Tobey's work and career stand out as different because of his strong spiritual beliefs, as well as his varying interests (he was also a classically trained pianist). Amercan artist; resident artist Darlington Hall, Eng., 1931-1937.
Mark Tobey was an American painter who was sometimes called the least
American of American painters. He worked in neither a violent or an
expressive manner. His paintings are remarkable for the meticulous care of
their execution and the refinement of their color, a result of the almost
exclusive use of the techniques of watercolor, tempera and pastels.
Mainly self-taught, Tobey was originally a commercial artist. In 1918 he
was converted to the Baha'i faith and his interest in, oriental philosophy,
religion, calligraphy and woodcuts subsequently dominated much of his
career'. In the mid-1930's he developed the "white writings", which
consisted of a network of calligraphic markings in white ink against a
colored background.
It was during the 1950's that Tobey received international recognition as
one of America's foremost painters. In 1951 a large retrospective of his
works was held in San Francisco and New York. Throughout his career,
Tobey's art never ossified into formalism, nor did it ever lose contact
with the world of the senses. Drawing from life remained a necessary
discipline for Tobey, and alternated with his abstract work. The form and
imagery in his "white writing", and the tonality of the ground on which it
appears, made it possible for Tobey to preserve a precarious and precious
allusion to the natural world.
Excerpt from
"Primitivism Biographies," DMA research document, Education files, n.d.
rules
Apply To
Constituents
id
Equals
1436
source file
artists_and_designers-0186.xml.nores