Quiet One

Artist Mark Tobey (American, 1890-1976)

Date1950

DimensionsH: 44 in. (111.9 cm); W: 28 in. (71.1 cm)

MediumOil on paper board

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number

1952.128

Not on View

Label Text"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 Though Mark Tobey is best known for his abstract compositions that resemble calligraphic writing, he also continued to paint the figure at a time—the mid-20th century—when the pure abstraction of the Abstract Expressionists was the dominant force in the American art world. Based in Seattle, where he had lived since 1923, Tobey was also physically removed from the center of Abstract Expressionism, New York City. He did, however, have important exhibitions in New York, including a retrospective at the Willard Gallery in 1951, which featured Quiet One.Published ReferencesThe Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, no. 140, Dec. 1952, p. 4, repr.

Art Digest, vol. 27, no. 16, May 15, 1953, p. 3, repr. on cover.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, American Paintings, Toledo, 1979, pp. 107-108, pl. 251.

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, 39th Annual, 1952, no. 79.

New York, Willard Gallery, Retrospective Exhibition, 1951.

Milwaukee Art Center, Ten Americans, 1961.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Unseen Art of TMA: What's in the Vaults and Why?, September 12, 2004-January 2, 2005 (no catalogue or checklist).