 #108. Charcoal on paper, 20.5 x 16.5 |
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Alton Tobey and Albert Einstein first became acquainted as a result of a chance encounter. For many years, Einstein had been the artist's favorite scientest. Tobey had in fact, had spent many years developing his own unique Curvilinear modernist style of painting based upon Einstein's theory that no straight lines can really exist in the universe. The result of this single sitting was the meticulously modeled but spontaneous study in charcoal on paper below.
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#108. Charcoal on paper, 20.5 x 16.5 |
In the course of his career, Tobey painted many portraits of literally all the presidents of the United States, in his many illustrations for books and in his murals. His favorite, however was Abraham Lincoln. These striking yet reserved portraits present a respectful visage of our 16th President of the United States.
 #128. Oil on canvasboard, 20 x 15.5 |
 #422. Oil on canvasboard, 15 x 11 |
Toscanini, who for a time had been a neighbor of Tobey's in Westchester County New York is seen here emerging from a deep black theatrical background of darkness in an example of the classical layering technique that Tobey had mastered in his extensive academic studies at Yale.
 #465. Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 |
Many of his fellow artists were also subjects for Tobey's portraits. Here, Alexander Calder sets and calibrates the finely balanced, weighted plates of one of his mobiles, a finishing touch to a work of art created in his own signature style.
 #459. Oil on canvas, 20 x 24 |
Two early self-portraits give us a glimpse into the masterful brushwork of Tobey in his early years as a student (below left) and as a successful young painter, muralist and illustrator already pushing the conventions of painting (below right). In the latter painting, he shows himself almost ready to venture out of the painted frame, as he holds in his hand an abstract form emanating perhaps an energy entity born from ideas latent that would later take form as the Curvilinear paintings that would become the signature style of his modernist personal works.
 #787. Oil on canvasboard, 20 x 16 |
 #159. Oil on masonite, 37 x 29 |
The artist's wife Rosalyn is seen here in one of Tobey's most revealing portraits. Rosalyn was a concert pianist and music teacher, and a dynamic force behind Alton's painting, with both her own strong personality and her ever-present music in the Tobey home.
 #198. Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 |
Alton created many portraits of of friends, relatives, and supporters of the arts. To view larger images of any of the eight portraits below, or of the two following them, just click on the images. Then use your browser's "back" button to return to this page.
 #472. Oil/cvsbd 16 x 20 |
 #480. Oil on canvas 24 x 20 |
 #232. Oil/masonite 37.5 x 28 |
 #293. Oil on canvas 40 x 30 |
 #481. Oil/canvas 36 x 24 |
 #462. Oil/cvsbd 24 x 20 |
 #311. Oil/canvas 20 x 16 |
 #429. Oil/cvsbd 20 x 16 |
Tobey was an ardent family man, and chronicled the life of his family through portraiture, as depicted below in "Elizabeth" and "David", his granddaughter and son.
 #405. Oil on canvas, 18 x 24 |
 #615. Oil on masonite, 20 x 16 |