235 - Mark Tobey (1890–1976)

Mark Tobey (1890–1976) Meanders, 1976 — Plate IV From the Meanders portfolio (nine plates) Original color silkscreen print on Richard de Bas handmade paper, with watermark Numbered 35/77 in pencil in the lower left corner, artist’s stamp in the lower right corner, dry stamp of the publisher Edition Lanz in the lower right corner. On the reverse: the artist’s stamp in red and an ink signature by Mark Ritter, Tobey’s secretary and executor of his estate. Dimensions: + Sheet: approx. 50 × 66 cm (19 3/4 × 26 in.) + Image: approx. 29 × 40 cm (11 3/8 × 15 3/4 in.) Condition: Very good condition. Mounting tabs preserved. Slight signs of handling in the margins. Printed and published by Edition Lanz, Basel. Printed in an edition of 77 numbered copies, plus a few H.C. and E.A. proofs. *Meanders* is Tobey’s final work: nine original silkscreen prints “in the ancient Chinese style,” designed and approved by the artist in collaboration with Edition Lanz in Basel. Tobey died on April 24, 1976, before he could sign the print run; the portfolio was published posthumously that same year, with each print bearing the artist’s stamp in lieu of his signature and signed on the reverse by Mark Ritter on behalf of the estate. The portfolio’s colophon specifies this and describes the accompanying texts: four pages of statements by Tobey, an original poem by the artist, and two pages by Ritter on the work’s genesis. Original print approved by the artist, not a reproduction. Reference: The Museum of Modern Art, New York, inv. 1096.1979.1-9 (complete portfolio).