Mark Tobey

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Erling Mandelmann : Mark Tobey (1964)

Mark George Tobey (born December 11, 1890 in Centerville , United States , † April 24, 1976 in Basel , Switzerland ) was an American painter .

Mark Tobey is considered to be the pioneer of American " Abstract Expressionism ". His White Writings , which are influenced by Far Eastern painting and calligraphic art, are known , works in light colors with abstract filigree, network-like structures executed in mixed media.

Life

Mark Tobey (1890–1976), artist, painter, grave in the Hörnli cemetery, Riehen, Basel-Stadt
Grave in the Hörnli cemetery , Riehen, Basel-Stadt

Mark Tobey moved from Trempealeau, Wisconsin , where he grew up, to the Chicago area in 1906 . In Chicago he attended courses at the Art Institute and worked as an industrial designer in an iron and steel mill. In 1911 he moved to New York City , where he did portrait painting and worked as a fashion illustrator for Vogue and other magazines. In 1918 he accepted the Baha'i religion.

In 1922 he moved to Seattle , where he taught at the Cornish College of the Arts until 1925 . The Chinese artist Teng Kwei introduced him to the techniques of Chinese painting . From 1925 to 1927 he stayed in Paris and made extensive trips to the Middle East . In Devonshire , United Kingdom , he taught at Dartington Hall School from 1930 to 1938 . In 1934 he made a trip to China and then to Japan , where he stayed for several months in a Zen monastery. He returned to Seattle in 1939. He became a well-known artist in America in 1944 through a solo exhibition of the White Writing Paintings at the Willard Gallery in New York.

With the International Prize for Painting at the Venice Biennale in 1958, he also gained a high international reputation. In 1959 and 1964 he was a participant in documenta II and documenta III in Kassel . After the Swiss gallery Beyeler had bought 40 works from him, he settled in 1960 with his friend Pehr Hallsten in Basel.

Mark Tobey was one of the numerous artists who belonged to the circle of the art collector and patron Theodor Ahrenberg .

Tobey's White Writings bear a striking resemblance to some of the paintings in the Texturologies series by the famous French painter Jean Dubuffet . When the art collector Jean Planque Dubuffet drew attention to this in 1960, he was shocked and remarked: "You are never alone ...". Conversely, in front of a picture by Dubuffet, Tobey believed he was looking at a plagiarism of his pictures.

Since 1956 he was an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters . In 1972, Mark Tobey was elected Associate Member ( ANA ) of the National Academy of Design in New York .

Exhibitions (selection)

literature

  • Mark Tobey. Exhibition catalog. Arr .: Gottfried Boehm [Engl. Text]. Basel: Edition Galerie Carzaniga, 2006. 56 pp., 41 color illustrations.
  • Years of Friendship, 1944-1956. The Correspondence of Lyonel Feininger and Mark Tobey. Arranged: Achim Moeller. Stuttgart: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2006.
  • Heiner Hachmeister, Matthias Bärmann, Kosme de Baranano: Mark Tobey, light space. Münster: Hachmeister-Verlag 2004. ISBN 3888290465
  • Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen (Hrsg.): Insights. The 20th Century in the North Rhine-Westphalia Art Collection, Düsseldorf , Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern-Ruit 2000; ISBN 3-7757-0853-7
  • Mark Tobey. Pictures from 1940 to 1975. Arranged: Matthias Bärmann, Kathrin Elvers-Svamberk. Bacht Grafische Betriebe und Verlag GmbH, 2001
  • Mark Tobey - Works / Oeuvres 1945-1975, arr .: Heiner Hachmeister, Castor Seibel, Hachmeister Verlag Münster 1991 ISBN 3888290902
  • Mark Tobey. Arranged: Karl-Heinz Hering. Düsseldorf: Kunstverein fd Rheinlande u. Westphalia, 1966, 18 b / w, 7 color illustrations.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Florian Rodari (ed.): Un oeil à Paris: Jean Planque Collection . 2001, ISBN 2-85025-772-9 , pp. 270 .
  2. ^ Members: Mark Tobey. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed April 29, 2019 .
  3. ↑ nationalacademy.org: Past Academicians "T" / Tobey, Mark ANA 1972 ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on July 17, 2015) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nationalacademy.org
personal data
SURNAME Tobey, Mark
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tobey, Mark George (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American painter
DATE OF BIRTH December 11, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Centerville , United States
DATE OF DEATH April 24, 1976
Place of death Basel , Switzerland