Mark TOBEY, Composizione - blu, 1972

Mark Tobey : (1890–1976) 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. Similar to others of the Northwest School, Tobey was mostly self-taught after early studies at the Art Institute of Chicago. Tobey was an incessant traveler, visiting Mexico, Europe, Palestine, Israel, Turkey, Lebanon, China and Japan. After converting to the Bahá'í 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.

Fondation Beyeler (Switzerland)
Neuberger Museum of art (The USA)
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum (The USA)
Museum Abteiberg (Germany)
Musée d'art Moderne et contemporain de Nice (MAMAC) (France)
The Thyssen Bornemisza Collection (Spain)
Langen Foundation (Germany)
Whatcom Museum (The USA)
Queensland art Gallery (Australia)
Davis Art Museum, Wellesley College (The USA)
Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection (Germany)
Seattle Art Museum (The USA)
Tacoma art Museum (The USA)
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (France)
Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna e contemporanea (GAM) (Italy)
Fuji Art Museum (Japan)
National Galleries of Scotland (United Kingdom)
Musée d'Art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg (France)
The National Museum of Art, Osaka (Japan)
Musée de Grenoble (France)
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS) (Spain)
Centre Pompidou - Musée national d'art moderne (France)
The Phillips Collection (The USA)
The Whitney Museum of American Art (The USA)
Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) (The USA)
The Weatherspoon Art Museum (The USA)
Peggy Guggenheim Collection (Italy)
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) (The USA)
nufnuf-art fondation (Switzerland)
UMMA University of Michigan Museum of Art (The USA)
Figge Art Museum (The USA)
Birmingham Museum of Art (The USA)
Daum Museum of Contemporary Art (The USA)
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of Art, New York (The USA)
Wichita Art Museum (The USA)
Tate Collection (United Kingdom)
The Wadsworth Atheneum (The USA)
Blanton Museum (The USA)
Die Neue Galerie - Universalmuseum Joanneum (Austria)
Utah Museum of Fine Art (The USA)
Memorial Art Gallery Rochester (The USA)
Brauer Museum of Art - Valparaiso University (The USA)
The Art gallery University of Maryland (The USA)
Ohara Museum of Art (Japan)
Art Gallery of Hamilton (Canada)
DePaul Art Museum (The USA)
Cà Pesaro Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna (Italy)
Mezzanin (Liechtenstein)
The New Britain Museum of Art (The USA)
Collection Gelonch Viladegut