caption movement death_date death_place influenced birth_place training nationality patrons field birth_date image article_title name
tobey in 1964 abstract expressionism northwest school 24 april 1976 basel , switzerland morris graves john cage jackson pollock centerville , wisconsin art institute of chicago american zoe dusanne painting 11 december 1890 mark tobey -lrb- 1964 -rrb- by erling mandelmann.jpg mark tobey
 mark tobey
mark tobey

mark george tobey -lrb- december 11 , 1890 -- april 24 , 1976 -rrb- was an american painter .
his densely structured compositions , inspired by asian calligraphy , resemble abstract expressionism , although the motives for his compositions differ philosophically from most abstract expressionist painters .
his work was widely recognized throughout the united states and europe .
along with guy anderson , kenneth callahan , morris graves , and william cumming , tobey was a founder of the northwest school .
senior in age and experience , he had a strong influence on the others ; friend and mentor , tobey shared their interest in philosophy and eastern religions .
similar to others of the northwest school , tobey was mostly self-taught after early studies at the art institute of chicago .
tobey was an incessant traveler , visiting mexico , europe , palestine , israel , turkey , lebanon , china and japan .
after converting to the bahá ' í faith , it became an important part of his life .
whether tobey 's all-over paintings , marked by oriental brushwork and calligraphic strokes , were an influencer on jackson pollock 's drip paintings has been left unanswered .
born in centerville , wisconsin , tobey lived in the seattle , washington area for most of his life before moving to basel , switzerland in the early 1960s with his companion , pehr hallsten ; tobey died there in 1976 .
