|
BURPEE GARDEN REVISITED
Exhibition: March 6 - March 29, 2008
Opening: March 6, 6 - 8 p.m.
Currently exhibiting recent work at Foster/White Gallery
Alden Mason at Seattle ArtResource
View March article in Seattle Post Intelligencer here
Download pdf of article here: 
Click to enlarge any image:
Installation View
 |
 |
|
View 1
|
View 2
|
 |
 |
|
DANDELION DAY, 1973
Oil on canvas
86 x 70 inches
$35,000
SOLD
|
DETAIL: DANDELION DAY |
 |
 |
|
RAINBOW ROCKER, 1973
Oil on canvas
80 x 90 inches
$41,000
|
DETAIL: RAINBOW ROCKER |
 |
 |
|
BURPEE SURPRISE PACKAGE, 1972
Oil on canvas
70 x 85
$34,000
|
DETAIL: BURPEE SURPRISE PACKAGE |
 |
 |
|
GOLDEN BURPEE, 1973
Oil on canvas
70 x 85 inches
$35,000
SOLD
|
DETAIL: GOLDEN BURPEE |
 |
|
UNTITLED from BURPEE GARDEN SERIES, 1972-73
Watercolor on paper
22 x 26 inches
$6,000
SOLD
|
 |
|
BROWN BINGO, 1976
Oil on canvas
70 x 82 inches
$32,000
SOLD
|
 |
|
BROWN BLUSHER, 1975
Oil on canvas
82 x 70 inches
$32,000
SOLD
|
In 1973, following the spectacular success of his first exhibition of
the Burpee Garden series of paintings at Seattle's Polly Friedlander
Gallery, Alden Mason visited New York at the invitation of Chuck Close.
Close, a former student of Mason, encouraged him to install a number
of his Burpee Garden paintings in Close's SoHo studio in the hopes of
finding a dealer in New York. Notably, Close arranged for the maverick
art dealer Allan Stone to view Mason's work.
Seeing the paintings Mason installed in Close's studio, Stone agreed to
buy all of them and to represent Mason's work in New York. Two of the
paintings illustrated here are among those works Stone acquired and
held for the last thirty-five years. We are pleased to present them for the
first time in Seattle. In addition, we will show several Burpee Garden
paintings and watercolors for resale from local private collections.
Allan Stone showed Mason's paintings through the late 1970s, finding
an international market for the work. Some of the Burpee Garden
paintings were also shown to great acclaim at Ruth Schaffner Gallery in
Los Angeles and were acquired by museums and important collectors.
Burpee Garden paintings are represented in the collections of San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Denver Art Museum, Portland
Art Museum, Seattle Art Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, Museum of
Northwest Art in La Conner, WA and corporate and private collections.
The Burpee Garden series, named after the Burpee Seed Company catalog which Mason remembered from his early years growing up on a farm in the Skagit Valley, were the first of many triumphant innovations as Mason's career progressed. With their audacious color, surprising scale, and exuberant abstraction, they represent a break with the drably colored or poetic narratives that had typified painting here following the advent of the Northwest School. Mason's significance is obvious in the way the Burpee Garden paintings mark a distinct turn in that linear history. Along with other abstract artists working in Seattle such as Michael Dailey, Robert Jones, William Ivey, and Frank Okada, Mason influenced the development of many younger artists here. Despite his need to abandon oil painting because of its detrimental effect on his health, this short lived series of paintings remain the pinnacle of Mason's early success. In the paintings titled the "Burpee Garden" series Mason produced six by seven foot paintings in a color range not previously seen in the Northwest. Created from 1970 to 1976 this short period produced some of the most influential and groundbreaking works ever made in Seattle.
In Seattle, Mason was represented by Greg Kucera Gallery from 1983 to 1996. He is currently showing work made since the 1980s at Foster/White Gallery, where he has been represented since 2003. We are pleased to work along side Foster/White Gallery in presenting a broad range of Alden Mason's work from the last four decades in our two simultaneous exhibitions.
|
|
EDUCATION
1947 Received M.F.A. from University of Washington and joined faculty
1981 Retired from teaching to paint full-time
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Archer M. Huntington Gallery, University of Texas, Austin
Bellevue Art Museum, WA
Boise Art Museum
Charles B. Goddard Center for the Arts, Ardmore, OK
Denver Art Museum
Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA
Harborview Hospital, Seattle
Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle
Meany Hall, University of Washington, Seattle
Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin
Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA
Oregon Art Institute, Portland
Palm Springs Desert Museum
Renton City Art Collection, WA
San Francisco Museum of Art
Seattle Art Museum
Seattle Arts Commission
Spokane City Art Collection, WA
Tacoma Art Museum, WA
University of Oregon Museum of Art
Washington State Arts Commission
Washington State University Art Museum, Pullman
Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA
SELECTED CORPORATE COLLECTIONS
Alaska Airlines Corporation, Seattle
Alexis Hotel, Portland
Atlantic Richfield Corporation, Los Angeles
Axelrod Investment, Seattle
Betts, Patterson and Mines Law Firm, Seattle
Bogle and Gates, Seattle
Cairncross, Ragen & Hempelmann Law Firm, Seattle
Cornerstone Development Company, Seattle
Cromwell, Mendoza Law Firm, Seattle
Dain Bosworth, Minneapolis
Davis, Wright and Jones Law Firm, Seattle
Data & Staff Service Company, Seattle
Federal Reserve Bank, San Francisco
Hillis, Cairncross Law Firm, Seattle
Idaho First National Bank, Boise
KING Broadcasting Company, Seattle
KMS Financial Services, Seattle
Mercantile Bank of Canada, Vancouver
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA
Miller and Young Law Firm, Washington D.C.
Nordstrom, San Francisco
Oaks Landing Investment Firm, Portland
Pease & Doces Law Firm, Seattle
Perkins, Coie, Seattle
Physio-Control Corporation, Redmond, WA
Piper, Jaffray and Hopwood, Minneapolis
Polyclinic, Seattle
Preston, Thorgrimson, Shidler, Gates & Ellis, Seattle
Prudential Insurance Company of America, Los Angeles
Security Pacific Bank, Seattle
Rainier Club, Seattle
Reed, McClure, Moceri, Thonn, Seattle
Riddell, Williams, Bullitt and Walkinshaw, Seattle
SAFECO Insurance Company, Seattle
Seafirst Corporation, Seattle
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
Sheraton Hotel, Seattle
Sheraton Hotel, Tacoma, WA
Steve Chase Associates, New York
Stoel, Rives, Boley, Jones and Grey, Seattle
Swedish Hospital, Seattle
Taco Bell Corporation, Irvine, CA
U.S. West Communications, Seattle
Warner Brothers Records, Burbank, CA
Washington Mutual Savings Bank, Seattle
West One Bank, Boise, ID
Williams, Lanza, Kastner and Gibbs, Seattle
|
