Mark Tobey, born Centerville, WI 1890-died Basel, Switzerland 1976 Search this
Medium:
casein on paper
Dimensions:
sheet: 17 3/4 x 11 5/8 in. (45.1 x 29.4 cm)
Type:
Drawing
Date:
1954
Exhibition Label:
Abstraction and spirituality are intimately entwined in the delicate works of Mark Tobey, whom, along with Morris Graves, Life magazine described as a mystical painter. Canticle refers to liturgical hymns from the bible. Tobey acknowledged that the abstract harmony of music was an important source of inspiration: “When I play the piano for several hours, everything is clarified in my visual imagination afterwards.” The intricate pattern of delicate marks that animate the surface (critics called it “white writing”) was inspired by the artist’s study of Arabic and Japanese calligraphy.
Modern American Realism: The Sara Roby Foundation Collection, 2014
