Mark Tobey's 'White Writing' at Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice presents sixty-six paintings by Mark Tobey (1890–1976), a solitary figure in American art history who resisted categorization. The exhibition, titled 'Light in the Labyrinth,' spans from the 1920s to the 1970s, tracing Tobey's evolution from figurative landscapes to his signature 'white writing'—a luminous, calligraphic abstraction rooted in spirituality. Organized by the Addison Gallery of American Art with support from Lavazza, the show highlights Tobey's intimate scale, his rejection of monumental abstraction (as practiced by Rothko and Newman), and his synthesis of Western and Eastern influences. Works like 'Middle West [American Landscape]' (1929) and 'Algerian Landscape' (1931) demonstrate his early metaphysical approach, while later 'Wild Field' (1959) exemplifies his mature style. Tobey's 'white writing' creates a meditative, transcendent experience, using white lines like veins to animate the canvas. The exhibition underscores Tobey's role as a pioneer of American Abstract Expressionism, though he remained deliberately unaligned with any movement.