Mark Tobey

Sources: MoMA: Edge of August, MoMA: Wild Field, MoMA: Space Wall, Seattle Art Museum: Untitled Calligraphy, Seattle Art Museum: Appearances in Time, Cleveland Museum of Art: Composition Circulaire, and Whitney Museum of American Art: Universal Field.

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  Casein paint

  In Edge of August (1953), Tobey covered a large board with casein paint. Its fine, closely layered strokes form an all-over field without one dominant center. MoMA's medium record explicitly identifies casein, a paint bound with milk protein, rather than tempera or oil for this painting.

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  Tempera paint

  Tobey used tempera on board for Wild Field (1959), scattering calligraphic marks across the entire surface. The Cleveland Museum of Art likewise records tempera on wood in Composition Circulaire (1960). Neither museum identifies an egg binder, so these should not automatically be called egg-tempera paintings.

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  Gouache paint

  Space Wall (1960) is a small gouache on board, subsequently mounted on another board. Tobey's dense, pale marks work across the opaque ground in miniature, a different support and paint from the larger casein painting Edge of August. The board support is confirmed by the collection record.

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  Watercolor paint

  The Seattle Art Museum lists Untitled Calligraphy (1953) as transparent and opaque watercolor on paper mounted on board. That combined medium lets darker passages show through some areas while the denser white strokes assert themselves over the underlying forms; MoMA's use of the term gouache on a different work should not be carried over to this record.

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  Oil paint

  MoMA catalogues an Untitled from 1960 as oil on paper, while the Seattle Art Museum identifies Appearances in Time (1962) as oil on canvas. Both show that Tobey's calligraphic painting was not confined to water-based media, even though his “white writing” is often discussed through casein and tempera.

Sources: MoMA: Edge of August, casein on board, MoMA: Wild Field, tempera, Cleveland Museum of Art: Composition Circulaire, tempera, MoMA: Space Wall, gouache, Seattle Art Museum: Untitled Calligraphy, watercolor, MoMA: Untitled (1960), oil on paper, and Seattle Art Museum: Appearances in Time, oil on canvas.

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  Paper

  Tobey’s paintings and calligraphic works include paper supports. The Seattle Art Museum catalogs Untitled Calligraphy (1953) as transparent and opaque watercolor on paper mounted on board, while MoMA records oil on paper in an untitled work; the sheet format carried several distinct media.

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  Painting Board

  Tobey painted on rigid board in works such as MoMA’s Edge of August, made in casein, and Space Wall, a gouache later mounted on a second board. These records show board supporting both large fields and intricate miniature calligraphic compositions.

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  Canvas

  Tobey used canvas as well as paper and board. Seattle Art Museum’s Appearances in Time (1962) is oil on canvas, while MoMA records casein tempera on canvas in other works. Canvas therefore supported several binders within his calligraphic practice. Collection records document both binders on canvas.

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  Cardboard

  Cardboard supports selected paintings and collages by Tobey, often as part of a layered construction. It appears alongside paper and board in his works on paper and mixed-media practice; keep the support tied to documented examples rather than assuming it from a collage-like appearance.

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  Wood

  Tobey painted on wood panels, including works in museum collections that catalog tempera on wood. The rigid panel gives a stable base for his all-over calligraphic marks and differs from canvas and mounted sheets; collection records document the material directly.

Sources: MoMA: Edge of August, MoMA: Wild Field, MoMA: Space Wall, Seattle Art Museum: Untitled Calligraphy, Seattle Art Museum: Appearances in Time.