Alden Mason (July 14, 1919 – February 6, 2013) was an American painter from Washington known for creating abstract and figurative artwork. Mason was a professor of art at the University of Washington for over 30 years. His paintings are held in a number of public collections including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Seattle Art Museum, the Portland Art Museum, and the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Burpee Garden exhibitions, 2008
In 2008, we collaborated with Foster/White Gallery to produce two simultaneous exhibitions of Alden Mason's work in our two side-by-side galleries. Foster/White, because they represented the artist, showed his recent works in acrylic on canvas, or watercolor on paper.

The Greg Kucera Gallery showed his earlier work in an exhibition titled "Burpee Garden" Revisited: Paintings 1973-1976." Two of the paintings in our show were among those works Allan Stone acquired, then exhibited, and held onto for the intervening thirty-five years. We were pleased to present them for the first time in Seattle. In addition, we showed several "Burpee Garden" paintings and watercolors on resale from local private collections. Every work in the show sold as there is rarely so much of his work available.

Burpee Garden Series, 1972-77
For Alden Mason, the 1960s had been a decade of searching for himself, working through nature and landscape paintings, then some hard edged, flat colored paintings styled after a Pop Art sensibility, and ending with more gestural works harkening back to deKooning and other abstract painters.

If the 1960s were about searching, the 1970s proved to be a decade of finding himself, as Mason produced some of his most memorable and groundbreaking work. From 1972-73, Mason was very involved with taking his natural inclination for watercolor to a new scale of abstract work, usually at least 30 x 40 inches in size. The watercolor works challenged the polite scale and subjects of his landscape and seashore paintings with their boldness, abstraction and scale. The rich, earthy quality of these watercolors contained large ovoid pod shapes, seemingly both grounded and buoyant. The paint both swirled around the pods and dripped into the grounding of them. While the overall palette was subdued, brilliantly colored details feature in many of them.

His drawings during from 1970-75 were similarly large works, often 50 x 40 inches, using oil pastels wiped with thinners. While figural in nature, these large drawings contained some of the same aqueous nature of the watercolor paintings since the paint thinner dissolves the thick waxy pigment in the oil pastels and disperses it so it can be moved around the page suspended in the thinner like watercolor pigment is in water. These drawings ranged from landscapes to figure drawings, often completely overwhelmed with sexual energy and innuendo. Rock formations, seen during trips through the Southwest’s deserts and parks, became loopy phalluses and swollen breasts. Large head drawings suggested the notion of representation of personality and mindset but were entirely ungrounded in the specificity of facial portraiture. Curiously, this bust portrait format had already become, by 1968, the central focus of his star student Chuck Close's work----though Close's heads become abstract only up close and are stringently descriptive from a distance.

The "Burpee Garden" series dates from 1972-73 specifically but, in sensibility, goes on to include all five years or so of these oil paintings until 1977. The series title derives from the Burpee Seed Company catalog which Mason remembered from his early years growing up on a farm in the Skagit Valley. These large and sumptuous works were widely viewed as triumphant innovations as Mason's career progressed. With their audacious color, surprising scale, and exuberant abstraction, they represent a break with the somberly colored poetic narratives that had typified painting here following the advent of the Northwest School, and artists such as Guy Anderson, Kenneth Callahan, Morris Graves and Mark Tobey. Mason's significance is obvious in the way the "Burpee Garden" paintings mark a distinct turn forward in that linear history. Along with other abstract artists working in Seattle such as Francis Celentano, Michael Dailey, Robert Jones, William Ivey, Frank Okada, Michael Spafford, and Margaret Tompkins, Mason influenced the development of many younger artists here by encouraging bold color, large size, and important scale in painting.

The special quality of these "Burpee Garden" works is understood in their lack of predictability. They are painted on a heavily gessoed canvas ground that has been sanded to a tooth similar to watercolor paper. His brilliant, jewel-like color itself came from fine quality oil paint, diluted with all manner of thinners, oils, varnishes and driers. The color is pooled and poured on from many glass vessels containing the thinned paint. Once poured or splashed, Mason dragged, pushed and pulled the fluids around by house painting brushes, sponges, rags, and even, it has been said, brooms. Positioning himself on a trestle spanning the width of the stretched canvas, the artist hovered over his paint surface, often kneeling a few inches above the surface. With this method, which belies a look of great spontaneity, Mason had surprising control of his gesture and imagery, rarely showing an actual brush stroke. In this liquid state, the paint had become akin to watercolor and Mason dealt with it similarly---but now on a heroic scale, often about 70 x 80 inches to 80 x 90 inches. Mason worked in a concentrated period of several hours, often all day or into the night. While still wet, he could correct an area by wiping it clean down to the gesso. The paintings could take days to dry but, once dry, he didn't make correction.

While many artists from Guy Anderson to Frank Stella used house painting brushes in their work, none of their work looked like Alden's. Similarly, Jackson Pollock and others spilled, poured, flung and dripped paint, but their works are more performative than Mason's. While painted and poured horizontally on the floor, like Helen Frankenthaler's work, they are not stains on raw canvas like hers, though he, too, embraced the "happy accident" that came with this kind of spontaneous gesture. The paintings and drawings of the 1970s look most to the works of artists like Arshille Gorky, or the Los Angeles painter, John Altoon.

By Mason's later estimation, based on the shows he had then, there were only about 70 - 80 of these large oil paintings painted between 1972 and 1977. There are some small works that are whole canvases as well but most often smaller works are edited from larger works Mason rejected as a whole painting. He would save the "good parts" from them as separate, smaller "cut-down" works.

As time goes by more and more of the major works are in museum collections, making them rare in the market place. In some of the later oil paintings one can detect loosely realized figures among the pools of color but the paintings largely remained at odds with the drawings during this period. 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 his friend and former student Chuck Close. Close 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. Allan Stone showed Mason's paintings in New York 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 and Gerard John Hayes, both in Los Angeles, and at William Sawyer in San Francisco. Through exhibitions with these galleries on both coasts, many of these dynamic paintings were acquired by museums and important collectors. (Earlier, Mason had showed with Zoe Dusanne's and Gordon Woodside's galleries in Seattle; Esther Robles in Los Angeles; and Bau-Xi Gallery in Vancouver, BC.)

"Burpee Garden" paintings are represented in the collections of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Portland Art Museum, Seattle Art Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner, Whatcom County Museum of Art, among others, as well as corporate and private collections all across the country.

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. By 1977, the toxicity of the oil paintings had ravaged the mucous membranes in his sinuses and nasal passages. As he was literally positioned directly above the paint surface, he was breathing in large quantities of paint and thinner vapors. He became prone to horrific headaches and was warned by his doctors to leave this dangerous, though lovely, medium behind.

Acrylic Wash Paintings and Works on Paper, 1977-79
Acrylic paints were the obvious choice with which to work as many other artists had embraced them over the toxic qualities inherent in oil paints. His hope had been to continue the "Burpee" paintings in washes of acrylic paint. He began by experimenting with thin washes of acrylic over the white surface similar to how he had used oil paint. Mason was working with very broad gestures and brushstrokes that mimicked, but weren't convincing, as a furtherance of the "Burpee" series. He was dissatisfied with the pastel range of color on the white backgrounds. Mason began to experiment with a black painted background. This allowed the acrylic to sit on top of the black and lose its soft, candy-like, color. He showed these dramatic works on canvas and paper in his first show with Diane Gilson's gallery in Pioneer Square.

They were accompanied by works on paper that were more like drawings than paintings, made by dropping gobs of only slightly thinned acrylic paint from a squeeze bottle onto a paper surface, again painted black. He would drag the paint around with a chopstick into delicate trails of paint connecting one glob to another, often fashioning faces and heads from the white lines, sometimes with colored washes and puddles of even thinner paint inside them.

Squeeze Bottle Paintings, 1980-85
Perhaps, this attention to the linear aspects, along with the use of ketchup or mustard type squeeze bottles to make the initial drops, made him realize that the acrylic paint could do something he hadn't done with oil paint, namely make a raised line with it. He was thrilled to see a union between his paintings and drawings.

In 1980, his second show at Gilson's was titled the Celebration Series, as much for the breakthrough it heralded in his style, as for his new relationship to his girlfriend, Karen Stumpf, soon to become his second wife. The paintings were joyous and, again, entirely fresh looking, unlike what any other artist was making by using a raised line of acrylic paint as a middle ground between his painting and drawing. While many were as small as 20 x 20 inches, others were as large as 80 x 80 inches. The raised line was used to make dizzying patterns of a multitude of colors. Some resembled the microscopic life seen under a slide, others the fantastic patterns of Central American textiles such as molas. Some relied on symmetry and others seemed to have no organization to their whimsical patterns whatsoever.

Over the long arc or his career, Mason tried many different painting styles and working methods. Through his non-traditional paint applications, steadfastly refusing to use paint and paintbrushes in academic ways, Mason freed himself to experiment in the way that he encouraged his students to be free and spontaneous. He was an iconoclast encouraging others to paint with courage and conviction and to move out.

The Senate Chamber Murals, Olympia, WA
It was during this period, in 1981, Mason was commissioned to make the pair of 12 foot by 44 foot paintings to grace the Beaux Arts architecture of the Washington State Capitol Senate Chambers. A group of legislators decided in 1989 that the murals were inappropriate to the neo-classical architecture of the historic legislative chambers. Alden Mason, along with Michael Spafford, Greg Kucera Gallery, Francine Seders, (Michael Spafford’s gallerist), and lawyer Leonard Duboff, working with Fred Mendoza formed the "Mural Defense Fund" and fought the case very publicly. The case was lost in the end when a judge ruled them as not compellingly site specific. Mason’s murals were uninstalled and moved from Olympia to storage in 1987. Both Spafford and Mason would have preferred their work to be destroyed than to be installed elsewhere. Aside from these ill-fated murals, paintings from this series also included several other civic commissions that are still in place and well loved.

By the mid-1980s Mason’s work were mostly heads and figural works done in various degrees of this raised line of paint and with varying levels of liquidity. In some works the line is rigid and in others it’s soft and the lines melt into one another. By the end of the 1980s, the raised line broke down into a less obvious raised surface as he began to mix the paint freely on the canvas with the nozzles of the squeeze bottles, creating patches of paint that were similar to the oil pastel drawings in a scratchy, scribbled kind of line. This was a new kind of expanded scale drawing for him and he energized the line with an invigorated hand, renewing interest in the large heads and figural works similar to the early 1970s but now 70 x 80 inch canvases, rather than 50 x 40 inch drawings on paper. As the work progressed, Mason could levitate several figures at once in his paintings at once dissolving, emerging, and mutating from one into another, as they cavort across the canvas. Alden felt he had finally unified his drawing with his painting and this work continued to the end of his life.

Drawing into Painting, 1985-2002
The work of the late 1980s finally fused Mason’s drawing style with his painting style. This had been a long-held dream of his and it was a slow progress to get there. The drawings from the 1960s shared small gestural notations with the paintings. The Burpee Garden era drawings shared turpentine as a solvent with the larger oil paintings. But never was there a one to one comparison of style, content and visual appearance between the works on paper and the works on canvas.

Continuing to use the squeeze bottle as the delivery method of the paint to canvas, Mason left behind the raised lines and patterning, and embarked on a series of paintings that used the tips of the squeeze bottles to spread the paint around as any artist would use a drawing tool. Suddenly the scratchy surface of his paintings resembled the scumbled surface of the concurrent oil pastel drawings. Now he had a liquid method of painting that left a much flatter but much more expressive texture on the canvas surface. By diluting the paint just enough to make a raised line that would melt slightly as it was applied, he could draw outlines and features, and then scratch the paint around with the bottle tip to create a rich scribbling of paint that looked drawn as much as painted. Meanwhile, the drawings in oil pastel gained a richness of color that repeated in the warmth of the paintings.

My Own History with Alden Mason: A remembrance of a brave and bumptious life.
— Greg Kucera

I first knew Alden Mason's work when, as a high school student, I would come into Seattle from Federal Way to see the galleries and what was being shown in 1973-74. Mason was showing his "Burpee Garden" series then at Polly Friedlander's roughly realized, but ever so chic, gallery space on Yesler Street. I remember the paintings as containing the most vivid, jewel-like colors and the most expressive, delightful paint surfaces I had yet seen in paintings in Seattle.

My own history with Mason continued at the University of Washington School of Art, where Mason taught for over thirty years. When I started college there in 1975, Alden taught me in drawing and design courses. Though I also had courses from influential professors such as Jacob Lawrence, Michael Spafford, Bob Jones and Michael Dailey, I always felt a kinship with Mason for his irreverence, and for his infectious view of life. He was an impressive teacher, and an even more important to me as an artist.

In 1979, I started to work part-time at Diane Gilson Gallery where Mason was represented. During my tenure at Gilson, I also began to work as a studio assistant to Mason, mixing paint, stretching, priming and framing his canvases. Mason proved to be an inventive, thoughtful artist in his studio, generous with his time, his advice, and the stories of his travels.

Working there, I saw his paintings from the time they were just blank rectangles of canvas (painted black), through his rough drawings on them in charcoal, and then through the eventual scratchy lines of paint that would become filled in with acrylic color, applied through squeeze bottles. These paintings moved back and forth between comically figural and completely patterned, eventually becoming, by the mid-1980s, large heads or monumental figures that filled the canvas from edge to edge. His drawings also featured similar figures but lacked the thickly textured patterns.

After Gilson closed in 1983, I opened my own eponymous gallery on Second Avenue. Alden took a great chance in being represented by my gallery, and through his trust and encouragement, other artists such as Gene Gentry McMahon, Francis Celentano, Roger Shimomura and Frank Okada, soon joined the gallery as represented artists. I could not have achieved any early success at the gallery without Alden's support, faith and loyalty.

In 1990, the gallery published a catalog on his "Courtship Series" with essays by Gerald Nordland and Bruce Guenther. In the forward I wrote, "Each new body of work seeks to explore uncharted territory. Each new painting promises to better translate his observations into a painterly language. Being summoned to Alden’s studio to view 'the most marvelous painting yet' has become a familiar and personal joke between us. Yet each time I hear excitement register in his voice over a new painting I am reminded that his lack of complacency keeps him vital."

My gallery represented Mason from 1983 to 1996. We did nine shows of paintings and drawings with him in that time and I am grateful for every one. Since 2003, Mason has been represented by Foster/White Gallery.

In 2008, we collaborated with Foster/White Gallery to produce two simultaneous exhibitions of Alden Mason's work in our two side-by-side galleries. Foster/White, because they represented the artist, showed his recent works in acrylic on canvas, or watercolor on paper. We showed his earlier work in an exhibition titled "Burpee Garden; Revisited: Paintings 1973-1976." Two of the paintings in our show were among those works Alan Stone acquired, then exhibited, and held onto for the intervening thirty-five years. We were pleased to present them for the first time in Seattle. In addition, we showed several "Burpee Garden" paintings and watercolors on resale from local private collections.

Alden Mason at the Wright Exhibition Space
Phen Huang and Greg Kucera co-curated Alden Mason: In Memoriam 1919-2013, an exhibition of Alden Mason's work shown at The Wright Exhibition Space from April 25 to June 30, 2013.

The exhibition was designed to be a bit of a retrospective, with concentration on the major themes of his work. The exhibit contained a few of the large head drawings in oil pastel or acrylic on paper from the 1970s; the Burpee Garden oil paintings from the early to mid-1970s; the patterned paintings in acrylic from the early 1980s; the figural paintings from the late 1980s and through the 1990s; the abstract work in acrylic on canvas from the late 1990s and into this century; and the late watercolor and oil pastel works Alden created in the last few years of his life.

This exhibition was not a full retrospective, but a survey of his brilliant career, since the early 1970s. It was a different than the various museum shows during Alden's life. As two of his dealers for Alden during the last 30 years of his life, the co-curators combined their knowledge of which collectors owned some of the finest works of his life. Kucera represented Mason from 1983 until 1996. Foster/White has represented Mason since 2002 and continues to represent his estate.

Huang and Kucera also asked a number of critics, artists, curators, and dealers, to write a group of short descriptions of various aspects of his career for a memorial publication and for label information within the exhibition. These writers included the co-curators, but also critics like Regina Hackett, and Sheila Farr, curators such as Beth Sellars, Gerald Nordland, and Bruce Guenther, and artists such as Roger Shimomura, Fay Jones, and Chuck Close.

Our Curatorial Statement for the memorial exhibition:
Late in his life, Alden Mason hoped for a retrospective museum show to define the phases of his career. He wanted major works from each series to represent his artistic oeuvre. His seventy years of painting revealed a range of media from watercolor to oil paint, then to acrylic paints, and finally back to ink and watercolor. Moving through these unique styles proved Mason’s ability to innovate and resonate with all audiences over an extended period of time. In curating this exhibition, we aimed at fulfilling his request. As art dealers who represented his work for lengthy periods during his life, we each knew of favorite works in our community to bring to light in this show. We aimed for work that had not been previously shown in his various museum exhibitions such as his drawing show at Seattle Art Museum (1986), mid-career retrospective at the Henry Gallery (1987), survey exhibition at Museum of Northwest Art (2000), and his late career exhibition of works from the collection at Seattle Art Museum (2010).

We are grateful for the opportunity to co-curate this exhibition at the Wright Exhibition Space. We thank Virginia Wright for the opportunity to honor Alden Mason. We both thank Alden for his faith and encouragement of us in return. Phen Huang and Greg Kucera

The exhibition was designed to be a bit of a retrospective, with concentration on the major themes of his work. The exhibit contains a few of the large head drawings in oil pastel and acrylic on paper from the 1970s; the Burpee Garden oil paintings from the early to mid-1970s; the patterned paintings in acrylic from the early 1980s; the figural paintings from the late 1980s and through the 1990s; the abstract work in acrylic on canvas from the late 1990s and into this century; and the late watercolor and oil stick works Alden was working on in the last few years of his life.

REVIEWS

The Seattle Times
A museum-worthy Alden Mason retrospective at Wright Space Wright Exhibtion Space assembles a glowing Alden Mason retrospective, with almost three dozen paintings and with fond, insightful reminiscences by 15 Seattle art-world figures. Through June 30, 2013.
By Michael Upchurch

Seattle Met
Art Review
A Knockout Tribute to Alden Mason at Wright Exhibition Space New exhibit Alden Mason: In Memoriam 1919-2013 hits the high points of the artist's work from 1970 on.
By Sheila Farr

The Seattle Times:
Obituary: Alden Mason, 93, lived, painted with a flourish
By Lynda V. Mapes

Seattle Metropolitan Magazine:
RIP Remembering Alden Mason (1919-2013) The prolific Washington artist, who painted well into his 90s, passed away today.
Published Feb 6, 2013, 2:14pm By Sheila Farr

Seattle Post Intelligencer:
At 88, painter still surprises himself
By REGINA HACKETT, P-I ART CRITIC
Published, Wednesday, March 5, 2008
(Download pdf of article)

ALDEN MASON: FLY YOUR OWN THING
Celebrating a Northwest Icon

Alden Mason: Fly Your Own Thing is the first comprehensive museum exhibition for Northwest artist Alden Mason since his passing in 2013. Mason was a prolific painter whose exuberance and inventiveness in form, color, and style helped pave the way from the aesthetics of the Northwest School to midcentury modernist art in the Pacific Northwest.

Born in Everett, WA in 1919, Mason earned his MFA from the University of Washington in 1947, launching what would become an extraordinarily long career as both an artist and teacher. He reinvented his style several times over the course of his career, exploring and combining new techniques through his Burpee Garden series, Squeeze Bottle paintings, Big Heads, and later acrylic works. Mason traveled extensively throughout his career, yet always returned to the Northwest and the Skagit Valley, drawing inspiration from every aspect of his life and the landscape around him.

While Mason’s visionary artworks helped shape the future of Northwest art, his work in the classroom inspired the next generation of artists in the region. Notable students include Roger Shimomura, Gene Gentry McMahon, and Chuck Close, who called Mason, “The greatest painter to come out of the Pacific Northwest—for me, even greater than Mark Tobey or Morris Graves.”

Alden Mason: Fly Your Own Thing is presented to coincide with the first comprehensive monograph on the artist, to be published by the University of Washington.

ALDEN MASON

Born 1919, Everett, WA; died 2013, Seattle, WA

Education and Experience

1982 Professor emeritus, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

1949 – 81 Professor of Art, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

1947 MFA, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

1945 BFA, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2017 The 1970s: A Time of Change, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle

2016 Selected Works, Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, WA

2013 Alden Mason: In Memoriam 1919-2013, Wright Exhibition Space, Seattle, WA; curated by Phen Huang and Greg Kucera [catalog]

Alden Mason: In Memoriam, Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, WA

2012 Selected Masterpieces, Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, WA

2010 Retrospective, Third Floor Galleries, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA

Endless Flirting on Paper, Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, WA

2009 Bugaboo, Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, WA

2008 Paintings and the Whole Rigamarole, Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, WA

Burpee Garden Revisited: Paintings 1973-1976, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle

2006 Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, WA (also 2004, 2003)

2005 Sandy Carson Gallery, Denver, CO

Laura Russo Gallery, Portland, OR (also 2002, 1995, 1992)

2001 New Paintings, Woodside/Braseth Gallery, Seattle, WA

2000 Heads Up: Paintings, Alden Mason, Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, WA

New Works, Olympic College Art Gallery, Bremerton, WA

1999 Woodside/Braseth Gallery, Seattle, WA (also 1998)

1996 New Paintings, Meyerson & Nowinski Gallery, Seattle, WA

1995 Honeymoon Series, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, WA

1995 New Work, Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA; curated by John Olbrantz

1995 Recent Paintings, SOMA Gallery, San Diego, CA

1995 Laura Russo Gallery, Portland, OR

1994-95 Dream Realities: New Work by Alden Mason, Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID; traveled to Holter Museum, Helena, MT; Prichard Gallery, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID; curated by Sandy Harthorn

1994 New Work, Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, WA

1993 Spirit Bird Series, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle [catalog, with essay by Gerald Nordland]

Bentley-Tomlinson Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ

Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, GA

Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, BC, (also 1980, 1976, 1971, 1969, 1965)

1992 Selections from the Burpee Garden Series, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle

1992 Laura Russo Gallery, Portland, OR

1991 Drawings, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle

1990 Paintings and Drawings, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle

Griffith Gallery, Steven Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX; curated by Roni McMurtrey

Elaine Horwitch Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

Jamison/Thomas Gallery, Portland, OR (also 1988)

1989 Recent Paintings, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle

McMurtrey Gallery, Houston, TX

First Prints, Wentz Gallery, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Oregon Art Institute, Portland, OR

1988 New Paintings and Drawings, Koehler Gallery, Whitworth College, Spokane, WA

Stremmel Gallery, Reno, NV

A Selective Survey, The Art Gym, Marylhurst College, Marylhurst, OR; curated by Terri Hopkins

1987 A Selective Survey, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington Seattle, WA; curated by Chris Bruce [catalog, with essay Regina Hackett]

Paintings, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle

1986 Drawings, Seattle Art Museum Seattle, W; curated by Bruce Guenther [catalog, with essay by Bruce Guenther]

Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1985 Paintings and Drawings, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle

Fountain Gallery, Portland, OR (also 1983)

1984 Fairbanks Gallery, University of Oregon, Corvallis, OR

New Paintings, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle

1983 Fountain Gallery, Portland, OR

1983 Recent Paintings, Tortue Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1982 Jungle Tattoo Series, Diane Gilson Gallery, Seattle, WA

Recent Paintings, Carson Sapiro Gallery, Denver, CO

Recent Paintings, Fountain Gallery, Portland, OR

1981 Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, NY

1980 Celebration Series, Diane Gilson Gallery, Seattle, WA

Small Paintings, Diane Gilson Gallery, Seattle, WA (with Karen Mason)

1980 Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, BC,

1979 Diane Gilson Gallery, Seattle,

1978 Burpee Garden Series, Washington State University, Pullman, WA; curated by Bruce Guenther

University Art Gallery, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND

Kiku Gallery, Seattle, WA

1977 Recent Paintings, Allan Stone Gallery, New York, NY

1976 Alden Mason Paintings, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA

1976 Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, BC,

1975 Eleanor Dickinson and Alden Mason, Museum of Art, Washington State University, Pullman, WA

1975 Paintings, Drawings, Polly Friedlander Gallery, Seattle, WA [catalog, with essay by Charles Cowles]

William Sawyer Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Ruth Schaffner Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1974-75 Abstract Paintings, WSU Art Museum, Washington State University, Pullman, WA

1974 Burpee Garden, Allan Stone Gallery, New York, NY

Polly Friedlander Gallery, Seattle, WA

1973 Portland Center for the Visual Arts, Portland, OR [catalog, with essay by Louis Storey]

Polly Friedlander Gallery, Seattle, WA

1972 Burpee Garden Series, Gerard John Hayes, Los Angeles, CA

Burpee Garden Series, Polly Friedlander Gallery, Seattle, WA

1971 Drawings, Gerard John Hayes, Los Angeles, CA

1971 Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, BC,

1970 New Paintings, Polly Friedlander Gallery, Seattle, WA

1969             Gordon Woodside Gallery, San Francisco, CA (also 1967 and 1962)

1969 Fantastic Heads, Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, BC,

1969 Central Washington State College, Ellensburg, WA

1967              Palos Verdes Community Gallery, Palos Verdes, CA

1965 Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, BC,

1965              Paintings, Gordon Woodside Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1965              Paintings, Gordon Woodside Gallery, Seattle, WA

1965 Esther Robles Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1962 Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

1958 4 One Man Shows: Erickson, Mason, Moseley, Smith, Seattle Art Museum

1957 Zoe Dusanne Gallery, Seattle, WA

Paintings by Alden Mason, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA

1955 Alden Mason, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Oregon Ceramic Studio, Portland OR

1954 Creative Galleries, New York, NY

Contemporary Arts, Inc., New York, NY

Western Painters Annual Exhibition, Oakland Art Museum, Oakland, CA

1953 Miller Pollard, Seattle, WA

1949 Paintings by Alden Mason, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA (note: same title as 1957)

Little Gallery, Frederick & Nelson, Seattle

1946 Alden Mason: Watercolors, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Selected Group Exhibitions

2018 Art from the Permanent Collection, Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, WA; curated by Chloe Dye Sherpe

2015 Magic Windows/Framing Place: Selections from the Collection, Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA; curated by Barbara C. Matilsky

2014-2017 Anita Kay Hardy and Gregory Kaslo Collection, Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID; curated by Sandy Harthorn

2013 Geology from the Permanent Collection, Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, WA; curated by Lisa Young

2013 Creating the Northwest Collection, Selections from the Herb and Lucy Pruzan Collection, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma; curated by Rock Hushka

2012-2013 Best of the Northwest: Selected paintings from the Collection, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA; curated by Rock Hushka

2012 Flashback, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; curated by Judy Sourakli

2011 50th Anniversary Show, Anacortes Arts Festival, Anacortes, WA

Fay Jones and Alden Mason: Two Artistic Worlds, Aljoya Thornton Place, Seattle, WA

2011 Seattle as Collector: Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs Turns 40, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; curated by Deborah Paine

2011 Flora and Fine Arts, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA

2010-2011 Guy Anderson and Other Friends: The Paul I. Gingrich, Jr. Collection, Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, WA; curated by Lisa Young

2010 49th Anniversary Show, Anacortes Arts Festival, Anacortes, WA

2010 Birds of a Feather, Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID; curated by Sandy Harthorn

2010 Moments: Alden Mason, Steve Klein, Karen Simonson, Arts Council of Snohomish Country, Everett, WA

2009 On a Grand Scale: Paintings from the Permanent Collection, Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA; curated by Scott Wallin

2009 48th Anniversary Show, Anacortes Arts Festival, Anacortes, WA

2008 Century 21: Dealer’s Choice, Wright Exhibition Space, Seattle, WA; curated by Seattle Art Dealers Association members

2006 Twenty Years, Laura Russo Gallery, Portland, OR [catalog]

2005 Stewards of the Northwest Vision, Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, WA

Souvenirs, Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, WA

2005 Paintings from the King County Public Art Collection, 4Culture Gallery, Seattle, WA

2004 Toronto International Art Fair, Foster/White Gallery booth, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2004 Elegance of Form, Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID; curated by Sandy Harthorn

2003 Crossroads: New Art from the Northwest, Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, WA; curated by Michael Klein

2002 Seattle Collects: City of Seattle Portable Works Collection, Bank of America Tower, Seattle, WA

2002 Northwest Masters, City Space, Seattle Arts Commission, Seattle, WA

2001 First Person Singular, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA

2001 Northwest Views: Selections from the Safeco Collection, Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA

2001 15th Anniversary Group Show, Laura Russo Gallery, Portland, OR

2000 Northwest Masters: Paintings from the Cairncross Collection, Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Sun Valley, ID [brochure]

What It Meant to Be Modern, Seattle Art at Mid-Century, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; curated by Sheryl Conkelton [catalog]

1997 Dealer’s Choice, Woodside/Braseth Gallery, Seattle, WA

Kamm Collection, California State University, Northridge, CA

Safeco Collects: Northwest Art 1976 – 1997, Jundt Museum, Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA

1995 Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID

Washington: 100 Years, 100 Paintings, Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, WA

Figures and Faces, North Seattle College Art Gallery, North Seattle College, Seattle, WA

Coos Art Museum, Coos Bay, Or

1994 Introduction, Soma Gallery, San Diego, CA

Tacoma Art Museum: Selections from the Northwest Collection, Seafirst Gallery, Seattle, WA

Pacific Northwest Annual, Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, WA

1993 Stealth, Seafirst Gallery, Seattle, WA

The Art of Microsoft, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; curated by Chris Bruce [brochure]

About Face: Portraits and Self-portraits, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA

Northwest Artists from the Permanent Collection, Washington State University, Pullman, WA

1992 44th Annual Academy-Institute Purchase Exhibition, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York, NY

It Figures: The Human Image in Art, Index Gallery, Clark College, Vancouver, BC; curated by Jim Archer

1991 Celebrations and Ceremonies, Security Pacific Gallery, Seattle, WA

Sandy Carson Gallery, Denver, CO

National Governors Association Exhibition, Washington State Convention Center, Seattle, WA

1990 Art Works for AIDS, Seattle Center Pavilion, Seattle, WA [catalog]

Northwest x Southwest: Painted Fictions, Palm Springs Desert Arts Museum, Palm Springs, CA; curated by Katherine Plake Hough and Michael Zakanian [catalog] traveling exhibition

1989 Northwest Annual, curated by Nancy Spero and Leon Golub, Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, WA

Painting and Sculpture by Candidates for Art Awards, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York, NY

1988 Contemporary Survey: A Visible Presence in the Northwest, Cheney Cowles Museum, Spokane, WA; curated by Beth Sellars [brochure]

West Coast Contemporary, Sierra Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV

School of Art 975-1978, Safeco Insurance Companies Building, Seattle, WA

1987 Focus: Seattle, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA; curated by John Olbrantz [catalog, with essay by Matthew Kangas]

Northwest ‘87, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; curated by Bruce Guenther

After Images, The Art Gym, Marylhurst University, Marylhurst, OR; curated by Terri Hopkins

After Images, Sarah Spurgeon Gallery, Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA

1986 Andrew Keating and Alden Mason: Heads, Whatcom Museum of History and Art, Bellingham, WA; curated by George Thomas

Northwest Impressions: Works on Paper, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; curated by Chris Bruce

Drawing Power: Northwest Invitational Drawing Show, Lynn McAllister Gallery, Seattle, WA [catalog]

1985 Bumberbiennale, Bumbershoot Arts Festival, Seattle, WA; curated by Matthew Kangas

1984 Olympiad: 1984, Koplin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

What’s Happening: Contemporary Art from California, Oregon, and Washington, Alternative Museum, New York, NY; curated by Geno Rodriguez [catalog]

Northwest Art from Corporate Collections, Waterfront Park, Pier 57; curated by John-Franklin Koenig [catalog]

1983 38th Corcoran Biennial of American Painting, Second Western States Exhibition, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; traveled to Scottsdale Center for the Arts, Scottsdale, AZ; Laguna Beach Museum of Art, Laguna Beach, CA; Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY; curated by Clair List [catalog]

1983 Contemporary Seattle Art of the 1980s, Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, WA; curated by John Olbrantz

1982 An American Tradition: Abstraction, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; curated by Gerald Nordland [catalog]

1981 Colorful Romances: A Spectrum, from Washington Year exhibition, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; curated by Chris Bruce [catalog]

1979 Washington Open, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA

1978 Kiku Gallery, Seattle, WA

December ’78, Diane Gilson Gallery, Seattle, Wa

1976 Masters of the Northwest, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA

1975 Fourteen Abstract Painters, Frederick S. Wright Art Gallery, University of California [Catalog], Los Angeles, CA; curated by Gerald Nordland

The Seattle Show, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA; curated by Charles Cowles

Northwest Painters Invitational, Museum of Art, Washington State University, Pullman, WA

1974 Art of the Pacific Northwest from the 1930s to the Present, National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR; curated by Adelyn D. Breeskin [catalog]

Art of the Pacific Northwest: Recent Work by Ten Artists Represented in the Smithsonian Exhibition, Polly Friedlander Gallery, Seattle, WA

1973 Northwest Annual, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA (also 1943-51, 1954-61, 1971-72)

Governor’s Invitational Exhibition of Washington Artists, The State Capital Museum, Olympia, WA (also 1964, 1967-69)

The 74th Western Annual, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO [catalog]

1972 Drawings by Contemporary Artists of the Northwest, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; traveled to University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV

Invitational Painting Exhibition, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV

1971 Pacific Cities Invitational Loan Exhibition, Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland, NZ [catalog]

West Coast Drawing Invitational, St. Cloud, MN

The 73rd Western Annual, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO [catalog, essay by Lamar Harrington]

1970-71 Spirit of the Comics, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania [catalog], Philadelphia, PA; organized by Stephen S. Prokopoff

1970 Drawing Society National Exhibition, American Federation of the Arts, New York, NY [catalog]

Preview/Season ’71-’72, Gerard John Hayes Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

24th Annual Pacific Northwest Arts and Crafts Fair, Bellevue, WA

1969-71 Spirit of the Comics, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania [catalog], Philadelphia, PA; organized by Stephen S. Prokopoff

1969 Drawing Invitational, Chico State College, Chico, CA

1968 Bon Marché Gallery, Seattle, WA

1967 Alden Mason, Robert Freemont and Peter Saul, Palos Verdes Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1966 35 Seattle Artists: Seattle to Kobe, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; Kobe Municipal Museum, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan [brochure]

Invitational, Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR

1965 Art Across America, San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA; curated by George D. Culler, James Elliot, and Gervais Reed

1963 The Northwest Myth, Image Gallery, Portland, OR; curated by Jack and Barbara McLarty

1962 Northwest Art Today, Seattle World’s Fair, Seattle, WA; curated by Millard Rogers [catalog]

Mason – Pizzuto: Two-man Show, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

1961 Eightieth Annual Painting Exhibition, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco Art Museum, San Francisco, CA; juried by Angelo Ippolito, David Simpson, James Newman, Tony DeLap.

Northwest Watercolor Society, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; juried by Harry Bonath, Colin Graham, David McCash, Val Welman, Richard Fuller

1960 Abstract Expressionism in the West, San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA

Northwest Watercolor Society, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; juried by Fay Chong, Richard Fuller, Walter Hook, Ambrose Patterson, Robert Sterling

Artist and Teacher Exhibition, Art Department, San Francisco State College, San Francisco, CA

1959 Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs, Co

1958 Art USA National, Nordness Gallery, New York, NY

Washington Artists, Western Washington State Fair, Puyallup, WA

1957 Washington Artists, Western Washington State Fair, Puyallup, WA; juried by Fred S. Bartlett

1957 16 Artists West of the Mississippi, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs, CO

Pacific Northwest Art Exhibition, Spokane Coliseum, Spokane, WA; juried by James Dew, Boyer Gonzales, David McCosh

1955 Alden Mason One-Man Exhibition, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

1956 Western Washington State Fair, Puyallup, WA

8th Annual Anacortes Arts Festival, Anacortes, WA; juried by Kenneth Callahan, Thorne Edwards, William Ivey, Manuel Izquierdo

5th Annual Exhibition of Fine Art, sponsored by Artists Equity Association, Seattle, WA; juried by Gaylen Hansen, Walter Isaacs, Keith Monahan)

1953 Paintings by Alden C. Mason, Miller Pollard, Seattle, WA

1948 Alden Mason, Dorothy Milne Rising, and Wendell Brazeau, Lebaudt Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Selected Awards

2005 Northwest Legacy: Visual Arts, Mayors Arts Award, Seattle, WA

1992 WESTAF/NEA Regional Fellowship for Visual Artists for distinguished achievement in painting

1988 King County Arts Commission Honors Award, Seattle, WA

1970 Second Prize; Professional Drawing, 24th Annual Pacific Northwest Arts and Crafts Fair, Bellevue, WA

1957 Second Prize, Pacific Northwest Art Exhibition, Spokane Coliseum, Spokane, WA

1956 Purchase Award, 8th Annual Anacortes Arts Festival, Anacortes, WA

1956 Bon Marché Purchase Award, 5th Annual Exhibition of Fine Art, sponsored by Artists Equity Association, Seattle, WA

Selected Public Commissions

2005 6th Ave NW Pocket Park; entry columns and sidewalk pavers created in collaboration with Stephen McClelland

1988 Lunar Promenade, King County Administration Building, Seattle, WA; three panels, 63 x 211 inches overall; 2 panels, 62 x 58.5 inches; center panel 62 x 94 inches

1987 Seattle City Light Promenade, McCaw Hall Opera House, Seattle, WA; four panels, ranging from 54 x 144 inches to 54 x 162 inches each (originally commissioned for Seattle City Light Building lobby)

1982 Yellow Birds, Renton District Court, Renton, WA; single panel, 3 ft. x 11.5 ft.

Portland Rose, Portland Justice Center, Portland, OR; single panel, 6 ft. x 9 ft.

Big Chief Seattle, Sheraton Hotel, Seattle, WA; single panel, 5 ft. x 24 ft.

1981 Washington State Senate Chambers; Olympia, WA; two lunette shaped, site-specific, murals, 12 ft. x 44 ft. each (relocated to Centralia College Library)

Selected Public Collections

Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin, TX

Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, WA

Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID

Charles B. Goddard Center for the Arts, Ardmore, OK

Chicago Art Institute, Chicago, IL

Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA

Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Meany Hall for the Performing Arts, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI

Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, WA

Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA

Oregon Art Institute, Portland, OR

Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA

Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR

Renton City Art Collection, Renton, WA

San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA

Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA

Seattle Arts Commission, Seattle, WA

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Port of Seattle, Sea-Tac, WA

Spokane City Art Collection, Spokane, WA

Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA

Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon Museum of Art, Eugene, OR

Washington State Arts Commission, Olympia, WA

Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Washington State University Art Museum, Pullman, WA

Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA

Selected Corporate Collections

Alaska Airline Corporation, Seattle, WA

Alexis Hotel, Portland, OR

Cairncross & Hemplemann Law Firm, Seattle, WA

Cornerstone Development Partners, Inc., Seattle, WA

Data & Staff Services Co., Seattle, WA

Davis Wright Law Firm, Seattle, WA

Federal Reserve Bank, San Francisco, CA

Fox Rothschild Law Firm, Seattle, WA

Harborview Hospital, Seattle, WA

Harsch Investments, Portland, OR

Hillis Clark Martin & Peterson Law Firm, Seattle, WA

Idaho First National Bank, Boise ID

K&L Gates Law Firm, Seattle, WA

KMS Financial Services, Seattle, WA

Lattice Semiconductor, Hillsboro, OR

Mazama Capital Management, Portland, OR

Mercantile Bank of Canada, Vancouver, BC

Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA

Miller Nash Graham & Dunn Law Firm, Seattle, WA

Nordstrom, San Francisco, CA

Oaks Landing Investment Firm, Portland, OR

Perkins Coie Law Firm, Seattle, WA

Physio-Control, Inc., Redmond, WA

Piper Jaffray and Hopwood, Minneapolis, MN

Polyclinic, Seattle, WA

Prudential Insurance Company of America, Los Angeles, CA

Rainer Club, Seattle, WA

Reed McClure Law Firm, Seattle, WA

Riddell, Williams Law Firm, Seattle, WA

Security Pacific Bank, Seattle, WA

Sheraton Hotel, Seattle, WA

Steve Chase Associates, New York, NY

Stoel Rives Law Firm, Seattle, WA

Swedish Hospital, Seattle, WA

US West Communications, Seattle, WA

Warner Brothers Records, Burbank, CA

"Respected Washington Painter Alden Mason Finally Gets a Retrospective—It's a Vibrant Jolt of Color"
by Jasmyne Keimig
The Stranger, September 23, 2021

The Seattle Times
A museum-worthy Alden Mason retrospective at Wright Space Wright Exhibtion Space assembles a glowing Alden Mason retrospective, with almost three dozen paintings and with fond, insightful reminiscences by 15 Seattle art-world figures. Through June 30, 2013.
By Michael Upchurch

Seattle Met
Art Review
A Knockout Tribute to Alden Mason at Wright Exhibition Space New exhibit Alden Mason: In Memoriam 1919-2013 hits the high points of the artist's work from 1970 on.
By Sheila Farr

The Seattle Times:
Obituary: Alden Mason, 93, lived, painted with a flourish
By Lynda V. Mapes

Seattle Metropolitan Magazine:
RIP Remembering Alden Mason (1919-2013) The prolific Washington artist, who painted well into his 90s, passed away today.
Published Feb 6, 2013, 2:14pm By Sheila Farr

Seattle Post Intelligencer:
At 88, painter still surprises himself
By REGINA HACKETT, P-I ART CRITIC
Published, Wednesday, March 5, 2008