Almine Rech is working on the rediscovery in Europe of the American painter, a leading figure in the field of abstraction.
CONTEMPORARY ART, Paris.
Emily Mason (1932-2019) – the first on the European continent, with the exception of the one dedicated to her prints in Venice twenty years ago. This mini-retrospective brings together some fifty paintings on canvas, paper, and clay panels, created from the 1950s until the end of her life, showcasing her love of color and her sense of composition…
While the shimmering quality of the works is the first thing that catches the eye, Emily Mason’s paintings then intrigue with their experimental techniques; the artist, for example, mixes oil paint directly on the canvas, giving the impression that the paintings have been washed with color. The American painter is less well known in Europe than in the United States, where her work is included in several public collections. The British market, particularly through sales organized by Phillips, is more developed than the French market, which has not yet shown interest in her work. A new perspective on her work Emily Mason grew up at the heart of the American art scene, as she was the daughter of the artist Alice Trumbull Mason, one of the pioneers of abstract art: in 2019, the Emily Mason & Alice Trumbull Mason Foundation was created to preserve their legacy (which is also the source of all the works on display in the gallery).
On the occasion of a group exhibition organized in the spring of 2024 by Almine Rech in her Upper East Side space in New York (entitled “Gesture & Form: Women in Abstraction”), featuring historical figures such as Helen Frankenthaler, Elaine de Kooning, and Vivian Springford, as well as contemporary artists like Minjung Kim and Thu-Van Tran, the gallery offered for sale a first work by Emily Mason (Tropic, 1989). This led to the idea of mounting a solo exhibition in Paris, in collaboration with the Foundation and the art historian and critic Erik Verhagen. The painter, who remained relatively unknown during her lifetime, is now receiving renewed attention for her work since her death in 2019.