Mark Tobey
Mark Tobey
Mark George Tobeywas an American painter. His densely structured compositions, inspired by Asian calligraphy, resemble Abstract expressionism, although the motives for his compositions differ philosophically from most Abstract Expressionist painters. His work was widely recognized throughout the United States and Europe. Along with Guy Anderson, Kenneth Callahan, Morris Graves, and William Cumming, Tobey was a founder of the Northwest School. Senior in age and experience, he had a strong influence on the others; friend and mentor, Tobey shared their interest...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPainter
Date of Birth11 December 1890
CountryUnited States of America
All of the artists congregated at our place. My folks were an anomaly since so many of the others were gay. The young guys appreciated getting a home-cooked meal there on Sunday.
The dimension that counts for the creative person is the space he creates within himself. This inner space is closer to the infinite than the other, and it is the privilege of the balanced mind... and the search for an equilibrium is essential - to be as aware of inner space as he is of outer space.
We all feel a separateness; we wish that a drop of water would soften our ego; the world needs a common conscience: agreement... we must concentrate outside ourselves.
According to one critic, my works looked like scraped billboards. I went to look at the billboards and decided that more billboards should be scraped.
The search for an equilibrium is essential for the artist, to be as aware of inner space as he is of outer space.
You don't want to help the young too much,it will just weaken them and they'll only resent it.
On pavements and the bark of trees I have found whole worlds.
Every artist's problem today is: What will we do with the human?
At a time when experimentation expresses itself in all forms of life, search becomes the only valid expression of the spirit.
White lines in movement symbolize a unifying idea which flows through the compartmented units of life bringing the consciousness of a larger relativity.
The Cubists used the figure, but they broke it up..
Now it seems to me that we are in a universalising period... If we are to have world peace, we should have an understanding of all the idioms of beauty because the members of humanity who have created these idioms of beauty are going to be a part of us. And I would say that we are in a period when we are discovering and becoming acquainted with these idioms for the first time.
But there was escape, too, even in those days, for there was Whistler living in the grey mists with a faded orange moon. The nocturne transformed itself into dreamy rooms with Chopin's music creating a mood that softened the hard core of self.
An artist must find his expression closely linked to his individual experience or else follow in the old grooves resulting in lifeless forms.