Painter Mark Tobey (1890-1976) was one of the defining artists of the "Northwest School," an art movement which combined natural elements of the Puget Sound area with traditional Asian aesthetics to create a novel and distinct regional style.

In this image Tobey, center, accompanied by Edward B. Thomas and his wife Ethel Morrison Thomas, enters the Seattle Art Museum for a preview of an exhibition of Tobey's sketches and paintings. Thomas, associate director of SAM, curated the exhibition, entitled “Tobey and the Seattle Public Market,” from the museum and other local collections.

Caption information source: The Seattle Sunday Times, August 25, 1963, page 27
Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.