Nan Mason
Painter and photographer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Painter and photographer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nan Mason (July 17, 1896 – March 2, 1982) was an American painter and photographer.
Nan Mason was born in New York City on July 17, 1896.[1]
As a painter, Nam Mason was part of the Woodstock Artist Colony and also that of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California and Anna Maria Island, Florida. Mason specialized in enamel painting, adopting "semi abstract urban motifs and bolder colors", with a cubist movement influence.[2]
Mason was on the Board of Trustees of the Woodstock Guild of Craftsmen.[3]
During the Depression of the 1930s, Mason and Hervey opened their own shop, "Gaylite Candles", which gathered several stores in Manhattan, including Hammacher Schlemmer; the candles itself were hand-made by Mason.[2]
In 2015, the James Cox Gallery at Woodstock displayed the exhibition Wilna Hervey & Nan Mason: Two Woodstock Originals.[2]
Nan Mason first partner, Arthur Ryan, died of pneumonia before their wedding.[2]
In the 1920s she became the long-time partner of actress Wilna Hervey. They met on the set in Pennsylvania, Mason was the daughter of Hervey's co-star Dan Mason.[4] At first they lived with Mason's father, in a home in Audubon, Pennsylvania,[2] and later moved together in a studio home in Bearsville, New York, their principal home until Hervey's death in 1979.[1]
They were part of the artists community in Woodstock, New York, and during the summers they moved to Carmel, California, and Manatee County, Florida.[1] Every year they hosted an annual costume party during which they auctioned art works to raise money for charity.[5]
They help raising their nephew, future Lt. Col. Bruce Campbell Cator, who lived with them in Bearsville for a period. He died on July 7, 1960.[6]
In 1962, Hervey and Mason inherited the main share of Eugene Speicher's estate. Speicher was a noted Woodstock artist.[7]
They are buried side by side at Artists Cemetery, Woodstock, New York.[8]
In 2015, Joseph P. Eckhardt published Living Large: Wilna Hervey and Nan Mason, a biography retelling the love story of Hervey and Mason.[9]
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