Movement, Style, School or Type of Art:
Realism: Illustration, murals
In the 1950s, Tobey invented an abstract style of painting he named Curvilinear. He based this style on Einstein's postulate that straight lines don't exist in reality. Initially in black and white, the curvilinear pieces became more colorful in the 1970s and eventually included three-dimensional elements.
In the 1980s, Tobey began working on his Fragments, a series of photorealistic paintings of small sections of human anatomy, blown-up to immense sizes.
Date and Place of Birth:
November 5, 1914, Middletown, Connecticut
Life:
Alton Tobey's mother provided him with pencils and paper when he was three years old, thus setting him on a career that spanned over six decades. Tobey's Realistic portraiture and murals were his "bread and butter" work, and were often reproduced in print and on collectibles. What he called his "artistic double life" led him to Abstraction, Pre-Columbian explorations and Photorealism. He was also both teacher and mentor to many aspiring artists, and established a scholarship for them.
Important Works:
- Brothers United
- Apollo Astronauts
- The Golden Book History of The United States (12 volumes; 300 paintings), early 1960s)
- The Roots of Westchester (mural), 1983-84
Date and Place of Death:
January 4, 2005, Mamaroneck, New York
Go to Artist Profiles: Names beginning with "T" or Artist Profiles: Main Index
