Mark Tobey's "Broadway" 1935

Broadway by Tobey demonstrates his departure from western conventions. His art features volumetric and spatial configurations of the cityscape, where the infrared perspective of human activity and electric craft seems to have completely erased. The piece was envisioned as Tobey's debut illustration, created in his distinct style with light tones applied to black paper. Tobey adapted this aesthetic to symbolize abstractionism, which gained popularity in 1949. Tobey's writing style can be referred to as "white writing." This technique originates from the East Asian traditions of painting by using ink to fill the imagery field with the gaps of the linear network rather than leaving the white space not painted.

The unique “white on dark” method is a representation of the reversal of the culture of East Asia ink painting and the calligraphy that is drawn in the subtle segregations on the clear paper using black ink. Tobey described Broadway as a calligraphic painting influenced by he Chinese traditions, which was meant to help him pass his message in painting, which is not connected to the forms of the movement of cars and people in the entire vitality of the artwork. From the scene which appears dematerialized in Broadway, it is evident that Tobey adopted the East Asian culture in calligraphy and painting.

The erratic development in Tobey’s work is the development of the abstract painting, which includes a universal field. It has been attributed to his interests in the works of the ancient Asian calligraphy, providing a paradigm of superseding illusionist space through the linear writings configurations laid on a flat ground. There is a speculation that the interest of Tobey in the Asian culture is theoretically void and can be understood through the relationship between nature and man in the continuum. Furthermore, it may have contributed to the tendency to spread his skills through the density of the entire work. The whole figure in the artwork is represented through a figure in duality. Hence the Japanese and Chinese calligraphic cultures are broader and appear to be an important element as illustrated by Tobey’s style.

The tendency of Tobey’s draftsmanship has been associated with “white writing”, which is executed in black on white ground. During the late 1950’s, Tobey made of 50 or more abstractions with the use of ink and paper. The sole works of the groups are diverse and include some portraits with spirited splatter and brushing the inks with a bold shift from the delicate traces of white painting. Moreover, the white on black painting transformation of unique gestures against the unpainted areas have created a link between Tobey and the Japanese and Chinese prototypes.

Tobey’s artistic works have been related to D.T Suzuki’s writings through the Zen Buddhist’s impressions and influenced by the artists such as Horiuchi, Tsutakawa, and Zen master Takizaki, who were his friends living in Seattle and representing the Asian American culture. His work has been described by other artists during his time as distantly similar in style to the Asian and American loci. The formula for the initial artistic identity could be characterized as the culture of distinct Pacific Northwest, which is centered between the West and the East, namely Japan and New York. Tobey, however, tried to keep away from similarity to the New York artistic abstraction such as the one of Pollock by introducing specific notes, which were dominant in the ancient Japanese ink painting. The brushing of the characters in the geometric form and simple lines with thick brushes dipped in ink was used by the monk artists such as Sengai (1750-1838) and Hakuin (1685-1769). ‘Sumiye’, which means monochrome ink painting in Japanese, was used by Suzuki and became strongly attached to his culture and other English publications. Tobey referred to his painting as the new abstraction of “sumiye”.

Tobey’s Work in Relation to His Other Works

Tobey created his legacy by presenting himself in New York as a cultural developer from the West Coast, who was strongly attached to the culture of East Asia, which was a new subject in the realms of modern art during his era. During the same month when Tobey’s Broadway was exhibited in the Willard gallery, the lectures in Columbia University were heavily flooded by writers and artists from New York since the publication was an aesthetic conceptualization of the mystical Zen ethos in the spontaneous ancient Japan painting, as it was described in the Art News Magazine. In the meantime, New York has experienced the contemporary Japanese shift to the avant-garde calligraphy in the exhibitions.

In other works, including the Shakuntsu (Incandescence) painted in 1956, the progressive calligraphers such as Morita Shiryl had picked up the legacy of the calligraphers from the legends, Hakuin and Sengai. They had scaled to greater heights in expressivity and abstraction. Hence, Tobey was allowed to use the word ‘sumis’ as it created a new and old Japanese tradition of brush painting and made him distinct from the center of Abstract expressionism in New York. In some instances, the desire of Tobey to self-differentiation through the links with Asia was very strong. For instance, in 1957, he admonished an interviewer who objected his painting by saying he could not understand some of the abstract works which Tobey had initiated. He referred to the interviewer as a slave of the western taste.

Being the imagery of the American painter, Mark Tobey embodied a striking recurrence of the forms of writing. Most of his works dating from the 1920’s feature vestigial portions of the Japanese and Chinese elements or decayed associations from the script with some unidentical language described as floating with tableaus of light colors. With the close identification of the identity of users and the language, it is instructive to evaluate the perspectives of the cultural identity illustrated by the paintings. Before evaluating Tobey’s works, it is important to consider the abstract thematization and inscription of his pieces of art as expressed in abstract expressionism, the post-war movement closely associated with his works.

Analysis of the Work in Relation to the General Abstract Expressionist Work and Historical Events

The expression of personal identity in the postwar paintings in abstract expressionism style was favored by the American nationals who wove the entire rhetoric surrounding the movement. The sentiments of the nationals in the world of art were bolstered by the political atmosphere of that period. The Second World War, as well as the international dominance obtained by the USA, made the majority of the people in the world of art feel that America became ripe to take the leadership from Europe. The abstract expressionism was motivated by the empowering conviction that Europe was not able to serve as the leader of the advanced western art. Therefore, it was America’s time to become dominant in art, with its proficient artists showing their particular skills.

The interest of Tobey in the Asian culture is associated with the history of the American Orientalism dating back to the eighteenth century. Therefore, Asian traditions were administered judiciously and enhanced the differentiation of Tobey’s American impressions from Europe. Greenberg, however, rejects the influence of Asian traditions on Tobey’s preferences. Nevertheless, the artist had the desire to make the contemporary American art take a more independent identification. The selection of Tobey’s view, which was published after the Civil War, demonstrates the ideological tensions which gave birth to his idea of enriching the American art using the Asian tastes.

Tobey felt there was a need to make consciousness a global item. The past behavior methods were constantly overlooked in Europe, and therefore, Tobey thought that he could not reject the role of the Asian culture in the newly developed culture of the United States as Greenberg did. Though there were many nations which could be considered as having strong ties to Europe and Asia, Tobey’s argument was that the geographical position of the United States was eliminated for destiny which no other nation had. The patents to the Asian traditions were distinct, and America was a prerogative. Tobey, however, warned that the waves of Orientalism will wash away the shores of America in case it failed to win the competition. It was not surprising that the Japanese audience responded to his sentiments with a thud.

In the lyric essay dated 1951, Tobey’s painting quenched the world with abstractionism after it shuddered from his native origins. He continued to proudly confirm that his roots were taken in America, the land on the great East-West parallel. During the prewar period, the same writings acted as memories of Japan, which were filled the alienation of the painter from celebrated art in calligraphy. As America was a nation described as the East-West expanse, Japan, on the other hand, was a country with illegible Asianness. Tobey’s interest to protect the standard American identity from the Asian origins could be traced from the other areas of the American culture of the same period. For instance, George , who was Tobey’s industrial designer, was a strong campaigner of increasing the conceptualization of the Japanese model in the United States. He, however, warned that the lessons could be got from the shelter in Japan, not being associated with copying the superficial characteristics.

In my opinion, Tobey’s artwork was a true reflection of the Asian culture modified in the American perspective to create a new legacy. His works were praised all over the world and have gained interest, especially from the audience in Japan. It is, however, important to consider other artistic works by Tobey, and it is notable that his style is persistent and was influenced by the Japanese paintings of the prewar period. Broadway, which was drawn before the Second World War, sends a message to his audience. Despite the Asian components which he included in many of his artistic impressions, it is notable that his style, “white writing”, is related to Japanese abstract calligraphy. His works acted as an encouragement to the Asian American artists of his time and influence the history of art to date. Critics have accused Tobey of overwhelming use of oriental models. However, their arguments have not been supported by any sufficient grounds since Tobey stated that he struggled with the Sumi brushes as he was trying to understand calligraphy of Japan and China. He depicts that he was mostly concerned for differentiation from New York, and other artists like Pollock were impressed with his vision of America as the awesome East-West parallel. Tobey affirmed the Occidental basis of his art.

In conclusion, the idea of the East and the West, namely Asia and America, is illustrated in Mark Tobey’s ideas and his environment surrounded by hegemonic tendencies. Similarly, it is reflected in Broadway, which is a masterpiece of Mark Tobey’s white writing. The hidden politics in the artistic work plays an important role in the development of abstraction. Tobey’s interest in urban life is reflected in the various figurative studies of the anonymous people in his artwork, but the vision of the city is seen in most instances as a form of abstract vortices in the beam of light and fragments unidentified in the script. The impact of Asian calligraphy introduced the use of a distinctive “white on dark” draftsmanship adopted from East Asian ink painting. The painting is primarily executed in subtle gradations of black ink on a white paper and light silk. The forms were dematerialized in Broadway, and Tobey succeeded in internalization of the East Asian culture of painting and calligraphy.





Bibliography

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Winther-Tamaki, B., 1997. Mark Tobey, white writing for a Janus-faced America. Word & Image, 13(1), pp.77-91.