Emily Mason Still Captivates

Jan 27

Yesterday Michael and I took an art-seeking excursion to the city.

After a train ride south followed by a subway jaunt west, we indulged in lattes before meandering over to 22nd street. The skies hung low, shrouding the towering buildings, and imbuing the streets of Chelsea with an air of intimacy. Immediately we entered the galleries, characterized by their expansive white interiors, where gallery staff discreetly roamed, and installations lacked labels. After visiting several such venues, I felt my enthusiasm waning.

Mason, A Paper of Pins, Oil painting, 1974

However, our experience took a delightful turn when, from the sidewalk, I was drawn into the Miles McEnery gallery’s Emily Mason Show. Her large, vibrant, liquid abstract oil paintings captivated us in this, “The Thunder Hurried Slow,” exhibition curated by Dr. Barbara Stehle. The title of the exhibition belongs to one of the paintings and derives from a line in an Emily Dickinson poem. Notably, seven paintings are titled from Dickinson quotes, underscoring Mason’s deep connection to the poetess. As a child she was given a book of Dickenson poems by her mother, and she cherished it her whole life and described her process of painting as parallel to the poetess’s rhythm and observation of nature.

Mason's artistic process involved pouring, scraping, and wiping away pigment, while rotating the canvas to allow gravity to play its part, resulting in surfaces that seemed to glow, crackle, and oscillate between concealment and revelation.

The work on display focused specifically on Mason’s work 1970’s period when a lot was going on in both Emily’s professional and personal life. As the daughter of Alice Trumbull Mason and the wife of Wolf Kahn, both major artists of note, Mason navigated the complexities of her own burgeoning career amidst her husband’s rising profile and the increased burden of domestic chores and childcare. Her mother’s death in 1971, further compounded her challenges, as she assumed the role of managing her mother’s archives and promoting her artistic legacy, which served to make Emily downplay her own career.

During this tumultuous period, Mason's studio space was confined to her bedroom until 1979 when she acquired a spacious loft in Chelsea, offering her the creative freedom she must have craved. Notably, the paintings showcased in the exhibition were created in a shed on property purchased by Mason and Kahn in Vermont, providing her with a sanctuary away from the demands of city life.

The success of the exhibition and profound delight in the painting was evident, with every work on display being sold.