Lot 3424 - A211 PostWar & Contemporary - Thursday, 28. November 2024, 04.00 PM
MARK TOBEY
(Centerville 1890–1976 Basel)
La Festa. 1967.
Tempera and collage on paper, firmly laid down on canvas.
Signed and dated lower left: Tobey 67.
93.5 × 64.5 cm.
Provenance:
- Galerie Beyeler, Basel (verso with the label).
- Martha Jackson Gallery, New York (verso with the label).
- Auction Sotheby's, New York, 6.11.1985, lot 117.
- Private collection Switzeland.
Exhibited:
- Basel 1970/71, Tobey on the occasion of his 80th birthday, Galerie Beyeler, cat. no. 36.
- Milan 1971, Tobey, Galleria dell'Ariete, cat. no. 12.
Literature:
This highly expressive work of art, "La Festa" from 1967, radiates a compelling sense of energy. Mark Tobey’s consummate skill in combining materials and the multiple layering of paint to create an impressive spatial depth can be witnessed here in the present work. The gestural and shifting web of marks and energetic forms in soft hues flow through the present painting with a vibrant dynamism and lively rhythm. The whole composition appears as if in constant motion, full of life and concrete reality and in a state of flux. Particularly striking is the dominant use of white, which can be interpreted as a symbol of spirituality, mysticism, light, or multiplicity. Tobey himself described the space of his paintings as multifaceted space or "multiple space", which only fully unfolds through an interactive dialogue with the observer. With such a title, is Tobey inviting the viewer into a festive world of dancing and joyfulness?
Mark Tobey is considered a pioneer of American Abstract Expressionism. He is one of the few artists of the 20th century whose artistic expression has retained its fundamental vitality. The pictorial world of Mark Tobey as expressed through painterly, poetic and compositional means is extremely complex and is characterised by an almost limitless potential for creativity, experimentation and innovation. Through his characteristic approach to abstraction and the skilful fusion of elements of Western modernism with components of Oriental calligraphy, Tobey created something entirely new and of overwhelming radiance. Tobey's art ranged from figurative works to his iconic "White Writings." At the same time, his art, which initially retained something of the representational, continually developed in the direction of abstraction, which corresponds to his meditative and contemplative philosophy of life.
Mark Tobey is considered a pioneer of American Abstract Expressionism. He is one of the few artists of the 20th century whose artistic expression has retained its fundamental vitality. The pictorial world of Mark Tobey as expressed through painterly, poetic and compositional means is extremely complex and is characterised by an almost limitless potential for creativity, experimentation and innovation. Through his characteristic approach to abstraction and the skilful fusion of elements of Western modernism with components of Oriental calligraphy, Tobey created something entirely new and of overwhelming radiance. Tobey's art ranged from figurative works to his iconic "White Writings." At the same time, his art, which initially retained something of the representational, continually developed in the direction of abstraction, which corresponds to his meditative and contemplative philosophy of life.
CHF 90 000 / 160 000 | (€ 92 780 / 164 950)