Mark Tobey (1890-1976) - Sans titre

Mark Tobey (1890-1976) — "Paean",
Year: 1975
Technique: color etching, possibly color aquatint on Japanese paper
52x67.5 cm (image: about 27.6 × 35.3 cm)
Signed in pencil at the bottom right: Tobey

Printer's proof (H.C) bearing on the back the handwritten inscription “Épreuve faisant partie de notre collection,” certifying its provenance directly from the publisher.

Paean (the Greek term evoking a song of joy and celebration) is a color aquatint made in 1975, one of the final creative years of Mark Tobey before his death in April 1976.

The Japanese paper, with a silky texture and slightly iridescent, gives the overall piece an exceptionally luminous quality.
The print is signed in pencil by the artist and bears the designation HC (Hors Commerce); these proofs are often considered rarer and more prestigious than the numbered copies of the standard edition.

Mark Tobey (Centerville, Wisconsin, 1890 — Basel, 1976) is today regarded as the pioneer of American abstraction. Throughout his life, he sought knowledge, exploring extremely diverse fields of expression, influenced notably by Oriental calligraphy and spirituality.
In 1934, to study calligraphy and painting, he stayed in China and then in Japan in a Zen monastery in Kyoto. Returning in 1935, he developed his famous “white writing” style, an essential characteristic of his work.
He received the Guggenheim International Award in 1956, won the Grand Prize for painting at the Venice Biennale, and MoMA in New York dedicated a retrospective to him in 1962. He settled permanently in Basel in 1960, where he remained until his death.