I didn't really know too much about Mark Tobey either, but after I discovered the Juliet Thompson connection I went on a deep dive. I enjoy these deep dives, it makes the people come to life for me.

I feel the same way you do, I'm artistically illiterate. Thankfully, it terms of music I had the opportunity to interview many of my heroes. The preparations, and the conversations themselves, expanded things for me musically. In terms of art, posting here on steemit gave me the motivation to dig deeper into a few artists whose work I truly admire -- I'm grateful to the steemit experience for that.

You might enjoy this article about John Cage:

Cage cited Tobey (1890–1976) as one of his major influences, going so far as to say, “In [a] sense, all my work is a response to Mark Tobey.” Known for his atmospheric, dynamic paintings bursting with gestural marks, Tobey was the globetrotting “father figure” of the Northwest School. In 1918, Tobey converted to the Bahá’í faith, whose followers believe in the unity of all religions and all beings...

source: https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2014/05/23/john-cage-and-the-northwest-school/