A rara avis among New York
painters, Mason was brought
up and has spent most of her
life on Manhattan Island. As
a child, her family made their
home in Greenwich Village. Her
father was a sea captain with
American Export Lines. Her
mother, Alice Trumbull Mason, a
descendant of John Trumbull, the
illustrious painter of the American
Revolution, was a noted artist in
her own right.
Candled, Emily Mason
Mason mère et fille once
exhibited their work together
in a show, "Two Generations
of Abstract Painting", held in
1982 at Skidmore College
and Tulane University. But
their visions and styles,
albeit abstract, are distinctly
different. "My mother was a
good friend of Piet Mondrian
and later in life her work became
more straight-edged," the
daughter recalls. "Someone once
asked her about the differences
in our work and my mother said,
'Emily has her art and I have
mine.'"
HYLAND