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Mark Tobey, Canticle, 1954, casein on paper, sheet: 17 3⁄4 x 11 5⁄8 in. (45.1 x 29.4 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.79
Copied
Artwork Details
- Title
- Canticle
- Artist
- Date
- 1954
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- sheet: 17 3⁄4 x 11 5⁄8 in. (45.1 x 29.4 cm)
- Credit Line
- Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- casein on paper
- Classifications
- Keywords
- Abstract
- Object Number
- 1986.6.79
Artwork Description
Abstraction and spirituality are intimately entwined in the delicate works of Mark Tobey, whom, along with Morris Graves, Life magazine described as a mystical painter. Canticle refers to liturgical hymns from the bible. Tobey acknowledged that the abstract harmony of music was an important source of inspiration: “When I play the piano for several hours, everything is clarified in my visual imagination afterwards.” The intricate pattern of delicate marks that animate the surface (critics called it “white writing”) was inspired by the artist’s study of Arabic and Japanese calligraphy.
Modern American Realism: The Sara Roby Foundation Collection, 2014
Exhibitions
October 20, 2018–November 28, 2018
This exhibition presents some of the most treasured paintings and sculpture from SAAM’s permanent collection, including artworks by Will Barnet, Isabel Bishop, Paul Cadmus, Edward Hopper, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Jacob Lawrence, George Tooker, among others.