On View
Not on viewObject number1967/8.37
White Writing
Artist
Mark Tobey
(American, 1890-1976)
Date1965
Mediumgouache on paper
Dimensionsframe: 33 × 27 1/4 × 1 1/4 in. (83.8 × 69.2 × 3.2 cm)
image: 26 1/2 × 20 3/4 in. (67.3 × 52.7 cm)
image: 26 1/2 × 20 3/4 in. (67.3 × 52.7 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mr. & Mrs. Donald S. Gilmore in memory of Blanche Hull
Exhibition History"Contemporary American Landscapes," Lansing Community College (Oct. 11 - Nov. 13, 1970).
"Modern Masters from the KIA Permanent Collection," Saginaw Art Museum (Nov. 12 - Dec. 5, 1993), Rankin Center Fine Art Gallery, Ferris State University (Jan. - Feb. 1994).
"70 Years, 70 Works from the KIA Permanent Collection," KIA (Nov. 19, 1994 - Feb. 10, 1995).
"Masterworks from the KIA Permanent Collection," Dennos Museum Center (Mar. 1997 - Feb. 1998); Midland Center for the Arts (Apr. - July, 1998).
Unknown Exhibition from KIA Permanent Collection, Art Center of Battle Creek (Jan. 22 - Mar. 28, 2001).
"Lasting Legacy: A Collection for Kalamazoo," Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan (Sep. 6, 2014 - Jan. 4, 2015).Label TextThe vitality and rhythm of Tobey’s "white writing"move the viewer’s eye across the composition. Tobey had a passionate conviction concerning the significance of space, of the void—not as a vacuum, but as something filled or charged with energy. What first seems like a decorative screen, becomes, up close, a battleground of forces which extend beyond the painting.
Tobey was a pioneer abstractionist who lived far from New York’s art scene in the Pacific Northwest. His introspective, meditative works are influenced by the Bahá’í faith and his study of Zen Buddhism. The “white writing” paintings and prints, with their signature networks of fine white lines, were inspired by Tobey’s experiments with Chinese calligraphy.
