Emily Mason is an instinctive colorist and as such, is drawn to the same vocabulary that other colorists have used, extemporizing as she goes along. Her abstractions are rich with areas of layered, saturated color contrasted with delicate, translucent washes and glazes that resemble watercolor, with recessions and advances, push and pull, with monochromatic planes interrupted by fissures and crevasses of other colors, flurried with small rains of brushstrokes, scumbled, rubbed, scraped. The boundaries of her protean shapes can seep into each other, rippled where one image slips imperceptibly into others with usually no hard and fast demarcation, no defined edges or clear lines but the transition is accomplished nonetheless. The fluidity, however, is gently but firmly structured, locked into place, into Mason's version of dynamic equilibrium. Often, only two or three colors dominate a canvas but a whole rainbow has been requisitioned in the making of it, with other hues underneath, floating on top, woven into the surface, into the texture, tucked into corners. Her corners are often surprising and full of incidents; here she can slip a few more shades in, overlaying them, brushing them on top of each other.
Mason is a woman of infinite variety. Her brushstrokes can melt into each other, shimmer, go flat, the color deepens, becomes sonorous yet in other places, it is whispery, translucent. Mason says she never likes to use white paint, preferring to let the white of the primed canvas show through for glow. The exterior light is also important and affects her painting; there is summer light and summer painting and winter light and winter painting, like Northern and Southern schools reconciled in one artist, The surface texture can be velvety or sleek, and the paint can transform itself at times into metal, glinting gold or copper. A yellow line, for instance, in one painting appears bright gold, an illusion created by its interaction with the colors in its vicinity. Mason does use gold but infrequently, content with the alchemy of paint itself.
Her sense of color is assured, in exuberant, innovative, often denatured combinations. Her reds are remarkable—a whole range from warm to cool, light to dark. One painting is flooded with red, balanced by pinks and magentas, cooled by a touch of unnatural green while another thrust of red is tipped by yellow, like the point of an arrow, surrounded by swirling streaks of purple. Another is mainly yellows and oranges and blends of yellow-orange, cut through by a flash of bright turquoise paired by a darker scrap of turquoise.
Her primaries are more Miami than Neo-Plastic: purple instead of blue, orange instead of red, gold instead of yellow. Her complementaries are reds that shift into rosy pinks, magentas and greens that veer toward lime and acquamarine. Purple and yellows are also frequent combinations but in a wide range of tones and complex relationships. Mason learned early that context is paramount and that colors influence each other in so many ways, such as hue, tonality, temperature, mood.
As for content, they may or may not be abstractions of landscapes, of imagined aerial views, oceanic depths or tropical gardens. Mason says they have a relationship to place but are not meant to be landscape. However, if landscape creeps in afterwards, she can accept that; she believes in nature. Be that as it may and whatever else they might be, Mason's paintings are first and foremost an art of sensation. Based on vision, they are a joyous and triumphant affirmation of color and of painting itself, the once and future medium.
Lilly Wei
2005
A First Selection of Young Italian and American Artists: Festival of Two Worlds, Galleria d’Arte Moderna
de Spoleto, Spoleto, Italy, 1958
Area Gallery, New York, NY, 1961
Area Gallery, New York, NY, 1962
Windham College, Putney, VT, 1968
Dorothy Marvin Memorial Library, Windham College, Putney, VT, 1970
Gallery North, Setauket, New York, NY, 1972
Two Artists, Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Brattleboro, VT, 1975
Marlboro College, Marlboro, VT, 1976
Landmark Gallery, New York, NY, 1977
Landmark Gallery, New York, NY, 1978
Landmark Gallery, New York, NY, 1981
Hamilton Gallery, Charleston, SC, 1982
Wentz Gallery, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR, 1983
Gross McCleaf Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, 1984
Grace Borgenicht Gallery, New York, NY, 1984
Grace Borgenicht Gallery, New York, NY, 1987
Kornbluth Gallery, Fair Lawn, NJ, 1989
American Women Artists—The Twentieth Century, Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN, 1990
Grace Borgenicht Gallery, New York, NY
Associated American Artists, New York, NY, 1990
Aba Gallery, Lebanon, NJ
Virginia Lynch Gallery, Tiverton, RI, 1991
Grace Borgenicht Gallery, New York, NY, 1992
Marlboro College, Marlboro, VT, 1993
Works by Women Artists, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA, 1994
American Academy of Arts and Letters 46th Annual Purchase Exhibition, NY, 1994
Virginia Lynch Gallery, Tiverton, RI, 1995
Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Brattleboro, VT, 1995
Thomas Babeor Gallery, San Diego, CA, 1996
MB Modern, New York, NY, 1997
All in a Family, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT, 1997
Spheris Gallery, Walpole, NH, 1998
MB Modern, New York, NY, 1999
Separate & Together: Wolf Kahn—Emily Mason, Mandeville Gallery, Union College, Schenectady, NY, 2000
Robert Hull Fleming Museum of Art, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, 2000
Spheris Gallery, Walpole, NH, 2000
MB Modern, New York, NY, 2001
Marian Graves Mugar Gallery, Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH, 2001
Kahn Mason Inaugural Exhibition, Beard and Weil Art Galleries, Wheaton College, Norton, MA, 2002
Flinn Gallery, Greenwich, CT, 2003
David Findlay Jr Fine Art, New York, NY, 2003
LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM, 2004
Scuola Internazionale di Grafica, Venice, Italy, 2004
Three Generations of Abstract Painting: Alice Trumbull Mason, Emily Mason, Cecily Kahn,
Hunter College, NY, 2005
About Paint, Westport Arts Center, Westport, CT, 2005
Recent Paintings, David Findlay Jr Fine Art, New York, NY, 2005
The Art of Emily Mason, Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, ME, 2005
Instinctive Color, Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Brattleboro, VT, 2005
Directions, LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM, 2006
David Findlay Jr Fine Art, New York, NY, 2007
Contemplating Color, LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM, 2008
Contemplating Color, The Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX, 2008
David Findlay Jr Fine Art, New York, NY, 2009
LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM, 2010
American Painterly Abstraction: 7 Painters, Lewallen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM, 2010
David Findlay Jr Fine Art, New York, NY, 2011
Summer’s Response, LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM, 2012
Recent Paintings, David Findlay Jr Fine Art, New York, NY, 2013
Opened Jars, LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM, 2014
Emily Mason: Works on Paper, David Findlay Jr Fine Art, New York, NY, 2014
Recent Paintings, David Findlay Jr Fine Art, New York, NY, 2015
Ripple Effect, LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM, 2016
Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe, New York, NY, 2017
Explorations: A Selection of Work with Five Printers, MitchellGiddings Gallery, Brattleboro, VT, 2017
Inventing Downtown: Artist-Run Galleries in New York City, 1952–1965 ,2017
Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York, NY, 2017
Inner Resources, LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM, 2018
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
A First Selection of Young Italian and American Artists: Festival of Two Worlds, Gallria d'Arte Moderna de Spoleto, Spoleto, Italy, 1958
Two Artists, Brattleboro Art Center, Brattleboro, VT, 1975
Color Four Artists, Landmark Gallery, New York, NY, 1975
118 Group Show, Landmark Gallery, New York, NY, 1979
Alice Trumbull Mason/Emily Mason, Two Generations of Abstract Painting, Newcomb College, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, 1982
Alice Trumbull Mason/Emily Mason, Two Generations of Abstract Painting, Washburn Gallery, New York, NY, 1982
Alice Trumbull Mason/Emily Mason, Two Generations of Abstract Painting, Skidmore College, Srartoga Springs, NY, 1982
A Family of Art, Kornbluth Gallery, Fairlawn, NY, 1983
1 + 1 =2, Bernice Steinbaum, New York, NY, 1984
Director's Choice, Gross McCleaf Gallery, 1984
Virgiania Lynch Gallery, Tiverton, RI, 1987
The Painter and the Printmaker, Associated American artists, New York, NY, 1989
Six for september, Virginia Lynch Gallery, Tiverton, RI, 1989
New Editions, Associated Artists, New York, NY, 1989
American women Artists-The Twentieth Ceentury, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY, 1989
American Women Artists-The Twentieth Century, Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN, 1990
Selections from 40 Exhibition Years, Grace Borgenicht Gallery,New York, NY, 1991
Couples Show, Kornbluth Gallery, Fairlawn, NJ, 1991
Among Family, Associated American Artists, New York, NY, 1992
Essences, Kornbluth Gallery, Fairlawn, NJ,1993
Art of the Monoprint, Kornbluth Gallery, Fairlawn, NJ, 1993
Monotypes Monoprints, Associated American Artists, New York, NY, 1993
Art of the Monoprint, Kornbluth Gallery, Fairlawn, NJ, 1994
Works by Women Artists: Selections from the William & Uttendale Scott Memorial Study Col-lection, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA, 1994
American Academy of Arts and Letters 46th Annual Purchase Exhibition, New York, NY, 1994
Gallery North, Setauket, NY, 1995
Shared Passion, MB Modern, New York, NY, 1996
Important Papers, Kornbluth Gallery, Fairlawn, NJ
Wolf Kahn, Emily Mason: Recent Paintings and Works on Paper, Gallery 30 Burlingame, CA, 1996
State Street Gallery, Sarasota,FL, 1997
All in a Family, New Britain Museum, New Britain, CT, 1997
Spirit of Nature II, MB Modern, New York, NY, 1998
Cast to Coast I, MB Modern, Houston, TX 1998
A Friendship in Art, March Avery-Emily Mason, Walker-Kornburth Gallery, Fairlawn, NJ
The Likeness of Being: Contemporary Self Portraits by 60 women Artists, DC Moore, New York, NY, 2000
Abstractions, Gallery North, Setauket, NY, 2000
Hunter College art department Faculty Exhibition, New York, NY, 2000
Separate & Together: Wolf Kahn-Emily Mason, Mandeville Gallery, Union College, Schenectady, NY, 2000
Robert Hull Fleming Museum, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, 2000
Akus Gallery, Eastern Connecticut State University, Wilimantic, CT, 2000
All American: Contemporary,Modern and Master Painting, David Findlay Jr. Fine Art, New York, NY, 2001
Kahn Mason Inaugural exhibition, Well Art Gallery, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL, 2002
Three Generations of Abstract Painting: Alice Trumball Mason, Emily Mason, Cecily Kahn, Hunter College, New York, NY, 2005
12 New York Painters, David Findlay Jr. Fine Art, New York, NY, 2006
A Salute to The National Academy, David Findlay Jr. Fine Art, New York, NY, 2006
8 Women artists, David Findlay Jr. Fine Art, New York, NY, 2007
Abstractions: Carl Heidenreich, Chuang che, Emily Mason, David Findlay Jr. Fine Art, New York, NY, 2007
Color and Light, David Findlay Jr. Fine Art, New York, NY, 2008
SummerSet, David Finlay Jr. Fine Art, NY, 2012
Inventing Downtown, NYU Grey Art Gallery,New York, NY, 2017
In the Vanguard: Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, 1950-1969, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME, 2019
Alexander Foundation, New York, NY
Brookhaven Laboratory, Brookhaven, NY
Boston Mutual Life, Canton, MA
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
Convexity Capital, Boston, MA
Lehman Brothers, Kuhn and Loeb, New York, NY
Morgan Stanley Group, New York, NY
Morgan Stanley Company, Tokyo, Japan
Museum of Art, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH
National Academy Museum, New York, NY
New Britain Museum, New Britain, CT
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME
Rockefeller Group, New York, NY
Rutgers Archive, Rutgers, NJ
Springfield Museum, Springfield, MA
University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, Maryland
Watkins Corporation, London, United Kingdom
Wheaton College, Norton, MA
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