Mark Tobey

Ed Kosme de Baranano and Matthias Barmann (Ambit, 1997)

KdB: Tangle of color on line

From 1935 developing calligraphic marks – 1944 exhib of White Writing (he later likened this to an explosion of flowers over the earth): interweaving white filigree lines which appear to vibrate – sensation of light and movement, completely covering surface, freezes time in its own moment, like something alive, intertwining light that creates multiple points of focus, the painting as a place of action rather than a representation, becomes its own reality, movements rather than subjects, ‘Writing the painting, whether in color or neutral tones, becomes a necessity for me.’ Meditative, gestural, free but controlled.

Min Chih Yao ‘The influence of Chinese and Japanese Calligraphy on Mark Tobey’ (Chinese materials centre 1983) – influence of cursive writing – curvilinear, threadlike, slight variation of widths, esp Japanese kana style.

Fields of light or suggestions of

Interconnecting streams of colour, wandering, nomadic. Plastic energy.

Expressed the rhythms of the city.

Importance of spaces between

Superimposed brushstrokes destroy those beneath.

Dilute paint, sumi ink

Spent 4 months 1934 in monastery in Kyoto learning about brushwork. Discovered here ‘the magic of a line that never closes’.  This period provided him with an enduring lifestyle and view of the world.  But quite clear he was a westerner, doing this as a westerner.

For him calligraphy was not an abstract art but an art that gave form.