For the 2010 edition of the FIAC at the Grand Palais from October 21 to 24, Galerie Jeanne Bucher  / Jaeger Bucher (Booth C 39) will present significant selected works by American artist Mark Tobey (1890-1976) to celebrate the 120th anniversary of his birth. Mark Tobey joined the gallery in 1944, exhibiting on many occasions until his death in 1976.

Mark Tobey is a world renowned pioneer of American Abstraction; his work eludes all categorisation but rather seeks keys and signs in painting that both represent and signify. He endeavoured to reveal the profound structure in things, and as a great explorer he enjoyed being Between Worlds, only too aware that the enclosed conventional world of art and its pseudo traditions was an obstacle to human fulfilment.

After travelling through Europe and the Middle East where he studied Arab and Persian penmanship, he left for China to study Chinese calligraphy with master Teng Kuei, and also Zen meditation.

The chemistry of these different visual cultures as well as his exploration of various art techniques—sumi, tempera, printmaking, calligraphy—led to his white writing, inspired by ancient Arab calligraphy: overlaying an abstract field, a web is formed of white or pale coloured calligraphic symbols, often made up of thousands of interlaced brushstrokes. This essential feature of his work gave rise to the all-over style of painting that was such a decisive influence on Jackson Pollock.

Mark Tobey’s work has received worldwide acclaim and is celebrated internationally by the most prestigious museums, art critics and collectors. He was aware of art’s mystical worth, projecting an active space—a space in which pigments and variations in colour made up of marks or transported by fine lines interpenetrate and fuse forming an intensely vibrating visual energy. As John Cage wrote: “His paintings exist to introduce us daily to an appreciation of the world we live in”.

Alongside the homage paid to Mark Tobey’s immense talent, an open dialogue will engage with works by other artists from the gallery whether figures from the past who knew him well (de Staël, Bissière, Vieira da Silva, Dubuffet…) or other more contemporary figures who today bear witness to their profound respect for his work (Yang Jiechang, Fabienne Verdier, Hanns Schimansky, Pat Steir…). Together they will show the strength of his vision dating back more than 50 years.

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FIAC 2010 – du 21 au 24 octobre – ouverture de midi à 20h – Grand Palais

Galerie Jaeger Bucher – 5 et 7 rue de Saintonge – 75003 Paris – Tel : 331 42 72 60 42 – www.galeriejaegerbucher.com

Galerie Jeanne Bucher – 53 rue de Seine – 75006 Paris – Tel : 331 44 41 69 65 – www.jeannebucher.com