Mark Tobey's White Writings on View in Naples

Fifteen works by Mark Tobey (1890–1976), created between the 1950s and 1960s, are exhibited in Naples through a collaboration between gallerist Andrea Ingenito, the Hachmeister archive, and private collections. The show highlights Tobey's calligraphic brushwork and his signature 'white writing' style, which blends Western and Eastern traditions. Unlike Abstract Expressionists, Tobey favored contemplative painting influenced by Eastern philosophies and meditation. Converted to Bahaism in 1918, he traveled to China and Japan, and from 1922 in Seattle studied Chinese painting and calligraphy. His works feature repeated small marks covering the surface, overlain with rhythmic patterns evoking nocturnal American cities. Tobey described his 'calligraphic impulse' as enriching his work toward new dimensions, capturing the tangle and confusion of big cities.