Northwest Drift

1958
tempera and gouache on paper laminated on board

Style/Movement: Abstract Expressionism, 20th Century

Presented by the American Friends of the Tate Gallery 1961

T00463

After studying calligraphy in China and Japan, Tobey developed a technique of painting with rapid brush stokes, which he called ‘white writing’. Northwest Drift is one of several works that reflect his meditative response to landscape. He wrote: ‘Seattle where I painted this picture is a place of virginal winds, air currents and intermingled seasons... Gray skies, gray water make one conscious of this color and I have used a series of gray tones which seem so indigenous to the locale.’
(From the display caption November 2005)