Rubbing: Bamboo
Tobey was fascinated by and collected Chinese stone rubbings, and likely must have consulted the rubbings that founder Richard E. Fuller enthusiastically acquired for the Seattle Art Museum. Rubbings were a vital means of preserving ancient texts and images. They were made by pressing thin sheets of wet paper into carvings or inscriptions cut in stone. When the surface was inked, the resulting copy had white impressions (where the paper was pressed into the carving) surrounded by a black ink
field. Chinese rubbings may have appeared to Tobey an ancient prototype of his own white writing.
Hanging scroll: Ink rubbing on paper
51 1/4 x 28in. (130.1 x 71.1cm), image
68 1/2 x 30in. (174 x 76.2cm), overall
Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection
44.124
