Accession Number
1970/2.141

Title
No. 1

Artist(s)
Mark Tobey

Artist Nationality
American (North American)

Object Creation Date
1970

Medium & Support
lithograph on paper

Dimensions
22 1/8 in x 17 7/8 in (56.2 cm x 45.4 cm);28 1/16 in x 22 1/16 in (71.28 cm x 56.04 cm);22 1/8 in x 17 7/8 in (56.2 cm x 45.4 cm);12 3/16 in x 8 9/16 in (30.95 cm x 21.75 cm)

Credit Line
Museum Purchase

Subject matter
Like this print, much of Tobey's work was concerned with spirituality—he joined the Baha’i World Faith in 1918 and lived in a Japanese Zen monastery for a month in 1934—Chinese calligraphy, Persian and Arabic script, and his physical/environmental surroundings. Part of a series of works he created in the late 1960s and 1970s, this work presents an abstract composition of marks meant to create an illegible language of signs and symbols. 

Physical Description
This print has a monochromatic black and gray abstract composition. There are circular forms of various sizes within the rectangle. The print is signed and editioned below the image (l.r.) "Tobey" and (l.l.) "2/46" and titled at the bottom of the page (l.r.) "No. 1". 

Primary Object Classification
Print

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
Abstract (fine arts style)
Bahaism
abstraction
lithographs
modern and contemporary art
monochrome