Mark Tobey Quotes

Mark George Tobey was 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 in philosophy and Eastern religions. Similar to others of the Northwest School, Tobey was mostly self-taught after early studies at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1921, Tobey founded the art department at The Cornish School in Seattle, Washington.Tobey was an incessant traveler, visiting Mexico, Europe, Palestine, Israel, Turkey, Lebanon, China and Japan. After converting to the Baháʼí Faith, it became an important part of his life. Whether Tobey's all-over paintings, marked by oriental brushwork and calligraphic strokes, were an influencer on Jackson Pollock's drip paintings has been left unanswered. Born in Centerville, Wisconsin, Tobey lived in the Seattle, Washington area for most of his life before moving to Basel, Switzerland in the early 1960s with his companion, Pehr Hallsten; Tobey died there in 1976. Wikipedia  

✵ 11. December 1890 – 24. April 1976
Mark Tobey photo
Mark Tobey: 22   quotes 0   likes

Famous Mark Tobey Quotes

“There has been 32 isms since the advent of Cubism, yet after all there are essentially the same two old strings, the Romantic and the Classical. We've just be confused by the storm. Science and psychology have played a great part to say nothing of sex.”

The Tigers Eye 1, Mark Tobey, 1952; as quoted in Abstract Expressionist Painting in America, W.C, Seitz, Cambridge Massachusetts, 1983, p. 103
1950's

“I have sought a unified world in my work and use a movable vortex to achieve it.”

as quoted in Abstract Expressionism, Barbara Hess, Taschen, Köln, 2006, p. 60
posthumous Quotes

“We look at the mountain to see the painting, then we look at the painting to see the mountain.”

Source: 1950's, In: Reminiscence and Reverie, 1951, p. 231

“Reality must be expressed by a physical symbol.”

Bahai lecture, New York, October 30, 1951; as quoted in Abstract Expressionist Painting in America, W.C, Seitz, Cambridge Massachusetts, 1983, p. 10
1950's

“I have many ideas for lights. I will paint only lights at night. [on the twinkling city-lights]”

Quote from Tobey's letter to the cubist painter Feininger, 1955
1950's

Mark Tobey Quotes about the world

“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.”

Quote from Tobey's Bahai lecture, 1951; as quoted in Abstract Expressionist Painting in America, W.C, Seitz, Cambridge Massachusetts, 1983, pp. 66/67
1950's

Mark Tobey Quotes

“I am accused often of too much experimentation.... but what else should I do when all other factors of man are in the same condition. I thrust forward into space as science and the rest do.”

Tobey's quote from an exhibition catalogue, Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1951; as quoted in Abstract Expressionist Painting in America, W.C, Seitz, Cambridge Massachusetts, 1983, p. 46
1950's

“We have tried to fit man into abstraction, but he does not fit.”

Statement in his Bahai lecture, Oct 30, 1951, as quoted in Abstract Expressionist Painting in America, W.C, Seitz, Cambridge Massachusetts, 1983, p. 104
1950's

“Every artist's problem today is: What will we do with the human?”

Quote from exhibition catalogue, Mark Tobey, 1951, as cited in Abstract Expressionist Painting in America, W.C, Seitz, Cambridge Massachusetts, 1983, p.13
1950's

“An artist must find his expression closely linked to his individual experience or else follow in the old grooves resulting in lifeless forms.”

Mark Tobey Retrospective Exhibition, New York, Whitney Museum, 1951
1950's

“White lines in movement symbolize a unifying idea which flows through the compartmented units of life bringing the consciousness of a larger relativity.”

Abstract Expressionist Painting in America, W.C, Seitz, Cambridge Massachusetts, 1983, p. 39: Statement concerning his painting 'Threading Light'
1950's

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