Alton Tobey (Alton S. Tobey, 1914-2005), was an American artist, muralist, and illustrator. His murals (beginning in the 1930's as a WPA artist) and illustrations show him working in the realistic style for which is best known. He is famously the creator, for example, of the hundreds of paintings which illustrate the many volumes of The Golden Book of American History.
But he also created other, less known paintings in an abstract (or semi-abstract) idiom, using a curious visual "alphabet" of his own invention. These he called his "curvilinears".
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AltonTobey resided for most of his life in the village of Larchmont, part of the town of Mamaroneck in Westchester County, New York.
Tobey's murals, illustrations, and portraits show him working in the realistic style for which he is best known.
In fact, it was while Einstein was sitting for his Tobey portrait (during the 1940s), that a cordial acquaintance began which yielded an important gem of artistic inspiration: Einstein's remark that there are really no straight lines in nature led to AltonTobey's invention of his signature "curvilinear" style - one of his experimental genres.
Alton and his wife Rosalyn had an insatiable desire for adventure, particularly when it came to newly discovered archaeological ruins and remote primitive cultures, especially in South and Central America.
Tobey was fond of saying: "Each time Roz goes to Mexico she single-handedly increases the country's GNP!" Roz loved the artifacts and crafts so much that without fail, every one of her friends, family members and students would receive a gift or souvenir upon her return from each trip.
Alton and Rosalyn's adventures in an unearthed Guatemalan ruin in the early 80's led to a fateful meeting atop a remote pyramid that was only accessible by foot or horseback.
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