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Written Over the Plains #2
Written Over the Plains #2

Written Over the Plains #2

Date1959
Maker Mark Tobey American, born Centerville, Wisconsin, 1890; died Basel, Switzerland, 1976
Object number59.171
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Henry Art Gallery, "What It Meant to Be Modern: Seattle Art at Mid-Century", October 15, 1999 - January 23, 2000 Miami, Florida, the Art Gallery, Miami-Dade Community College, "Mark Tobey 1930-1967: A Selection of Works from the Seattle Art Museum", December 1, 1975 - January 29, 1976 (12/01/1975 - 01/29/1976) Seattle, Washington, Seattle World's Fair, Fine Arts Pavilion, "Seattle Art Museum Mark Tobey Exhibit", 1962 (1962) University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, "Northwest Art," 1963 (1963) Los Angeles, California, Municipal Art Commission, arranged exhibit at Amerika Haus, Berlin, Germany, "Pacific Heritage", 1965 (1965) Kobe, Japan, Kobe Municipal Art Museum, "35 Seattle Artists", (through the WAAM), 1966-1967. Circuit: Seattle Art Museum Pavilion, Washington, Alaska Methodist University, Anchorage, Alaska, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, College of Great Falls, Montana, Lower Columbia College, Longview, Washington, Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington, Western Washington State College, Bellingham, Washington (1966 - 1967) Eastern Washington State Historical Society, Spokane, Washington, "Mark Tobey Retrospective", 1968 (1968) Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "Tobey's 80: A Retrospective Exhibition from Northwest Collectors", December 3, 1970 - January 31, 1971 (12/03/1970 - 01/31/1971) Printed as a colored poster for the September - November 1974 Seattle Art Museum Tobey exhibition by Farwest/Acme, Inc., Printers, Seattle Miami-Dade Community College, Florida, "Mark Tobey," December 1, 1975- January 29, 1976 (12/01/1975-01/29/1976) Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "Northwest Traditions", June 29 - December 10, 1978 Circuit: Des Moines Art Center, Iowa, 3/19-4/29/79 (06/29/1978 - 04/29/1979) Miami, Florida, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, "Abstract Expressionism: Other Dimensions, Small Scale and the Development of American Painterly Abstraction, 1940-1965", 10/26/89-12/3/89 Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, 1/6/90-3/5/90 Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Jersey, 3/25/90-6/13/90 (10/26/1989 - 06/13/1990) Halifax, Canada, Nova Scotia Museum of Fine Arts, "Painters of the Northwest School", 1969 (1969)Published ReferencesSeattle Art Museum, Engagement Book, 1962 Frankenstein, A., "Tobey", Artforum, vol. 1: no. 1, ill. p. 26, June 1962 Kittredge Art Gallery, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington, "Northwest Art", 1963, cat. # 4, ill. cover Seattle Art Museum, "Tobey's 80: A Retrospective Exhibition from Northwest Collectors", cat., Introduction by Betty Bowen, 1970, cat. # 74, ill. Color Poster: Poster for Seattle circuit of "Tribute to Mark Tobey", Farwest/Acme Inc., Printers, Seattle, 1974 The Art Gallery, Miami-Dade South, Florida, "Mark Tobey 1930-1967: A Selection of Works from the Seattle Art Museum", cat., Intro. by Willis F. Woods, 1975, cat. # 21, pp. 8, 11, ill. p. 27 Kingsbury, Martha and Sarah Clark. "Northwest Traditions." Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1978, p. 56 The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers - The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, "Abstract Expressionism" Other Dimensions", Jeffrey Wechsler, 1988 Clarke, David J., "The Influence of Oriental Thought on Postwar American Painting and Sculpture", Garland Publishing, New York & London: 1988, p. 20, fig. #157, ill. n.p. (reprint PhD dissertation, Courtauld Institute) Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers-State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey, "Abstract Expressionism: Other Dimensions", 1989 Clarke, David. "The All-Over Image: Meaning in Abstract Art," in Journal of American Studies, Vol 27, No. 3, Dec. 1993, p. 355-375, fig. 2, p. 365 Clarke, David. “Teng Baiye and Mark Tobey: Interactions between Chinese and American Art in Shanghai and Seattle,” in The Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Vol. 93, No. 4 (Fall 2002), pp. 171-179, illus. p. 175
Credit LineGift of Mark Tobey and the Otto Seligman Gallery
Dimensions12 7/16 x 9 3/4 in. (31.6 x 24.8 cm)
MediumTransparent and opaque watercolor on paper