With 70 paintings, ranging from productions from the 20s to the 70s, the exhibition investigates the scope of Tobey's artistic production and reveals the extraordinary, yet radical, appeal of his work. The exhibition therefore takes the form of a careful re-examination of the artistic production of the painter, one of the major American artists to emerge in the 40s, in that key decade which saw the birth of Abstract Expressionism, recognized as an avant-garde figure, forerunner with his "white writing" of those stylistic innovations introduced shortly thereafter by the artists of the New York School, such as Jackson Pollock.
Tobey has left a strong mark in the history of 900th century art for his calligraphic representations, unique in their kind, which appear to be the result of a lyrical integration between two figurative cultures, Western and Eastern, ranging from traditional Chinese painting on parchment to European Cubism. This form of abstraction derives from the various experiences made by the artist who lived between Seattle and New York, traveled extensively between Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kyoto and Europe, and converted to the Bahá'í faith, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion born in Iran in the mid-XNUMXth century.
As curator Debra Bricker Balken explains, “within this mix of sources, Tobey has been able to avoid a specific debt to Cubism, unlike his modernist peers, by blending elements linked to formal languages in compositions that are surprisingly radical and wonderful at the same time". Tobey's work, innovative and distinctive in its influences and intrinsic beauty, fully embodies the international soul of mid-XNUMXth century modernism, an aspect hitherto unexplored by post-war art criticism.
Today some artists talk about the act of painting… but the first preparation is the state of mind, and the action proceeds from this. Inner Peace is another ideal, perhaps the ideal state to seek in painting, and it certainly is preparatory to the act.
(Mark Tobey, 1958)
Ph Cover: Matteo de Fina
