Alton Tobey with one of his Curvilinear paintings, "Fandango".

The Curvilinear Works

          Curvilinear is Alton S. Tobey's own personal creation. Tobey's curvilinear abstractions evolved over some three decades from around the middle of the 1950's into the 1980's. His inspiration was his observation of Albert Einstein's postulate that no true straight lines exist in reality. From this he created a complex alphabet of complex shapes in his works, always consisting of curved lines. The letters of this alpahabet combine to express the artist's intention or feeling. An understanding of Tobey's vocabulary increases as observers become more familiar with his curvilinear work.

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Sails #530. Acrylic on canvas 20.5 x 29

Delicate Grasp #071. Acrylic on canvas 50 x 50

Cymbal Symbol #078. Acrylic on canvas 22 x 30

Don Quixote #935. Graphite on board 15 x 20

String Quartet #908. Graphite on paper 20 x 24

          Starting in the 1950's each of Tobey's Curvilinear paintings were strictly monochrome. At times, they consisted of only black areas masked out onto acetate film that were then overlaid onto white backgrounds.

Tennis Game 1   #530. Brushed aluminum 36 x 48

Tennis Game 3 #530. Brushed aluminum 36 x 48

          Over time, the works began to show shading, giving them more dimension, and Tobey experimented with many variations on his favorite themes.

Delicate Illumination #200. Oil on masonite 36 x 48

Contra Bass #229. Oil on canvas 56 x 36

Confrontation #572. Acrylic on canvas 48 x 72

Horse Race  #412. Acrylic/mixed media on canvas, 20 x 24

The Furies #559. Acrylic on canvas 52 x 60

In the 1970's, Tobey added a great deal more color to his curvilinear creations.

Violin Blues #592. Acrylic/mixed media on canvas, 48 x 36

Ice Storm #246. Acrylic on canvas, 32 x 48

          The next stage of his curvilinear paintings involved the development of three dimensionsal effects on his working surfaces, created with painted strings, wires, metallic elements and found objects, rendered to appear to be totally metallic.

Knight #137. Oil on canvas 52 x 28

Reflected Light #202. Acrylic on masonite, 48 x 48

Virtuoso #062. Acrylic on canvas 20 x 48

Cross Currents #069. Oil on canvas 38 x 60

Crucifixion #594. photostat/acrylic on canvas 90 x 84

Dancers #437. Acrylic on canvas 30 x 42

          Although Tobey intended each piece to be something specific - often reflected in the title of the work - he and the paintings themselves encourage viewers to find their own meaning in each work, and to enjoy it in their own way, rather than holding to his own personal intentions as an artist.

The Last Judgement  #279. Acrylic/mixed media on canvas 60 x 42	Stravinsky #199. Oil on canvas 38 x 30
Contemplation #339. Acrylic on canvas 34 x 40	Mother & Child #528. Acrylic/mixed media on canvas 35 x 20

          In his later Curvilinear works, small realistic images emerge in the backgrounds of the paintings, integrating the subjective observers into his own personal relationships with his abstracted figurative and suggestive realities.

         Tobey's curvilinear work can esily been translated into full three dimentional sculpture for any number of public places, as seen below. The artist's estate works with one of the most distinguished and respected metallurgical foundries in the United States and France. Architects and others who may be interested in large-scale renderings of Tobey's Curvilinear works in metal or other substances, please just contact us.

Alton Tobey's curvilinear construction "Tango"
rendered as an Architectural Sculpture

"I live an artistic double life: one of classical realism and the other of aesthetic exploration."

-- AltonTobey

            A new page with many more of Tobey's Curvilinear works has been added to this site as of April, 2005. If you haven't seen them yet, just click on the first link below at the bottom of this page to go there, or just click here to see them.

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