emily-mason-art

Abstract oil and pastel on paper painting by Emily Mason, 1960, oil and pastel on paper, 19 3/8 x 26 1/2 in. (49.2 x 67.3 cm) Abstract oil paint and pastel open grey paper, with energetic brushstrokes of grey, purples, blues, white and peach, focused towards the center of the paper.

In the collection of the Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE, Gift of Berta Borgenicht Kerr, 2022 (2022-9)

Emily Mason Oils on Paper

Abstract oil paint and pastel open grey paper, with energetic brushstrokes of grey, purples, blues, white and peach, focused towards the center of the paper.

EM-1960-11-OP-Ashen-Meadow-RECTO-Delaware_Book_2024_Spectraflow-FINAL2

Ashen Meadow

Emily Mason and Alice Trumbull Mason Foundation

The Emily Mason and Alice Trumbull Mason Foundation stewards the artistic legacy of two pioneering abstract artists while advancing opportunities for traditionally underrepresented artists through grants and educational programs.

Two touching, horizontal capital "M"s: one a medium red tone, and the other a deep burgundy.

The Emily Mason & Alice Trumbull Mason Foundation

Emily Mason (1932-2019) was an American abstract painter working between New York City and Brattleboro, Vermont. For more than six decades, Mason explored her distinctive vein of lyrical, luminous abstraction. Born and raised in New York City, Emily Mason’s art education began at home and in the studio with her mother Alice Trumbull Mason, a writer, painter, and a founding member of the American Abstract Artists. In 1956, Mason was awarded a two-year Fulbright grant to paint in Venice, Italy. There she studied at the Accademia delle Belle Arti where she first experimented with her signature style of applying oil paint and pigment onto the surface of the canvas. Mason began teaching at CUNY Hunter College in 1979, and became a lifelong, dedicated mentor and teacher. Emily Mason is represented by Miles McEnery Gallery in New York City. 

Portrait of Emily Mason standing in front of one of her abstract paintings, the painting is a yellow washed canvas with glimpses of blue and red showing through from the background

Artist, Abstract Painter, Art Educator

Emily Mason

Alice Trumbull Mason (1904-1971) was a pioneer of American abstraction. A writer, painter, and printmaker, Trumbull Mason was also a  founding member of American Abstract Artists. Born Alice Bradford Trumbull in 1904 in Litchfield, Connecticut, she was a descendant of the notable 18th-century American painter, John Trumbull. Growing up she received a formal education in painting in Rome and New York, where she studied under Arshile Gorky. Trumbull Mason had two children in the early 1930s: Jonathan, who passed away in 1958, and Emily Mason, who also became a prominent abstract painter.
Trumbull Mason’s intimate and experimental abstractions began in a biomorphic style and became increasingly geometric over time. She called what became her signature style “architectural abstraction.” In 1944, Trumbull Mason joined Atelier 17, Stanley William Hayter’s historic printmaking workshop in New York City, producing prints that were acquired by institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art and Philadelphia Museum of Art. Throughout her life she remained committed to both making and promoting abstract art. Alice Trumbull Mason is represented by Galerie Lelong in New York City.

Color portrait photograph from 1946 of a woman with a light skin tone, standing in front of a yellow abstract painting resting on an easel.

Ashen Meadow, 1960