Arnold Henry Mason RA (20 March 1885 - 17 November 1963) was a British portrait painter of the twentieth century.
Early life and education
editMason was born at Birkenhead, Cheshire, United Kingdom. He studied at the Macclesfield School of Art, the Royal College of Art, London and the Slade School, London in 1918–19.
Career
editMason worked in Paris and Rome. In 1906 he was Assistant to Sir William Richmond on the internal decorations of the Old Bailey Courtrooms, London. He served in the Artists' Rifles 1915–18, and exhibited at the Royal Academy, London, from 1919. In the 1930s he had a studio in Chelsea.[1] He befriended the artist Roy Beddington and assisted him in getting his career established in London.[2]
In 1940, Mason became an Associate of the Royal Academy; he was accepted as a Royal Academician in 1951 and a senior member of the R.A. in 1960.
Mason died aged 78 on 17 November 1963 in Kensington, London.
Works
editAlthough sometimes described as a landscape and portrait painter,[3][4] he is best known as a portrait painter in oils and pencil portraits on paper. His works can be seen in the Tate, the National Portrait Gallery and the Royal Academy Galleries in London,[5] and the National Library of Australia.[6] Most of his finished portraits are signed, often with "Arnold Mason" followed by the last two digits of the year date. Most of his works date from 1910 to 1962.
One of his most notable oil paintings on canvas is to be seen at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Titled Elinor Glyn[7] it was painted by 1942, and purchased in 1962. Other paintings are to be found in the collections of the Derby Museum[8] the Norfolk County Museums,[9] the University of Melbourne, Australia[10] and the Dudmaston Museum in Shropshire.[11]
References
edit- ^ The London Studio. W.E. Rudge. 1938. p. 166.
- ^ James Fergusson (5 June 1995). OBITUARY:Roy Beddington.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ Adrian Bury (1938). Oil Painting of To-Day. Studio, Limited. p. 124.
- ^ Kenneth M. Guichard (1977). British etchers, 1850-1940. George Pryor. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-906030-00-4.
- ^ Artworks by or after Arnold Henry Mason at the Art UK site
- ^ "Portrait of Basil Burdett". National Library of Australia
- ^ "Elinor Glyn" Archived March 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. National Trust Collections.
- ^ "It's the £1 million question: should Derby sell its Lowry painting?".[permanent dead link] Derby Telegraph.
- ^ Head of Museums and Archaeology Update"[permanent dead link]. Norfolk.gov.uk.
- ^ "Facing Percy Grainger - National Library of Australia".
- ^ "Olive Mary Wolryche-Whitmore, Mrs Eustace Scott Hamilton-Russell (1879-1951)" Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. National Trust Collections.