A Life of Artistic Duality

Alton Stanley Tobey was an American painter, muralist, portraitist, illustrator, and teacher of art. Born in Middletown, United States, he received a scholarship to the Yale University School of Fine Arts at the age of twenty. Following his military service, he completed a postgraduate academic degree at Yale, where he also served as a Professor. Throughout much of his life, he resided in the village of Larchmont, part of a town in Mamaroneck, Westchester County, New York. He was married to Roslyn Tobey, a musician and piano instructor, and they had two children, David and Judy.

Tobey described his creative output as an artistic double life, split between classical realism and aesthetic exploration. His realist works include murals, illustrations, and portraits. He was a prolific illustrator for publications such as Sport magazine, Life, and Time-Life books, and he created the illustrations for the twelve volumes of The Golden Book History of the United States. His murals, which he referred to as "symphonies of painting," have been displayed in various public institutions, including the Smithsonian Institution and the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum.

Styles and Experimental Forms

In addition to his realist style, Tobey developed several experimental genres. One such idiom was his "curvilinears," which were abstract or semi-abstract works utilizing a unique "visual alphabet" of his own invention. He also produced sculptures in this style. Another experimental vein included his "fragments," a series of bizarre portraits consisting of extreme close-ups of parts of a face, often positioned far off-center.

His portraiture included depictions of prominent figures such as:

The inspiration for his signature "curvilinear" style reportedly stemmed from a conversation with Albert Einstein, who remarked that there are no straight lines in nature. His work also extended into social commentary through paintings that utilized grotesque or piercing imagery to address themes such as militarism.