|
Matthias Bärmann: Mr. Beyeler, thank you so much for agreeing to an interview: Do
you still recall the first time you ever saw one of Mark Tobey’s paintings? Which one was it? What was your first impression?
Ernst Beyeler: I first saw one of Mark Tobey’s works in Brussels, at the World’s Fair in 1958. It was fascinating. It had a wonderful, white tone and
made a very spiritual impression: White Journey, from 1956.
Do you remember which of Tobey’s paintings you first acquired for your private collection? Do you still have this picture?
My first painting of his was the one I just mentioned, White Journey, which I’d seen at the World’s Fair in Brussels. Tobey told me that he spent a few days traveling by train from Seattle to New York in 1956, and that he painted White Journey in the same year: wit arose from this winter journey. Despite the painting’s modest size (113.5 x 89.x cm), you can feel the continent that Tobey had crossed, and despite the intimacy, the picture gave an impression of enormous distance and breadth. The painting is still part of our foundation’s collection.
When did you meet Tobey for the first time in person, and what was the occasion?
Tobey came to Basle in 1960. He wanted to meet me because I had acquired White Journey in Brussels. It was a beautiful June day, and during lunch in a St. Alban suburb, Tobey said that Basle was a beautiful city and that he would like to spend some time there, if I could manage to find him a good place to live. Right away, we were able to rent the house next door. He spent the last sixteen years of his life living and working in this house.
This particular house obviously meant something to Tobey. How was it decorated?
He was really taken with the old patrician house with its beautiful garden in the suburbs of St. Alban. He also had a very strong friendship with his neighbor, Paul Haßler. Tobey’s grand piano was the dominant focus in the old house in Basle. He often played it for hours, and composed little pieces of music. Then there was the fireplace, which was always taken care of by his assistant and friend, Marc Ritter. And of course, there was the great mess in his studio.
In 1958 Tobey and Mark Rothko represented the United States at the Biennial in Venice, where he was awarded the prize for painting. In 1961 the Louvre in Paris dedicated a large retrospective to him, the first American since Whistler so honored. In |
