Judith Mason

Judith Mason (born Judith Seelander Menge, 10 October 1938 – 28 December 2016) was a South African artist who worked in oil, pencil, printmaking and mixed media. Her work is rich in symbolism and mythology, and displays a rare technical virtuosity.

Judith Mason was born in Pretoria; South Africa, in 1938. She matriculated at the Pretoria High School for Girls in 1956. In 1960, she was awarded a BA Degree in Fine Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand. She taught painting at the University of the Witwatersrand, the University of Pretoria, the Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town, Scuola Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence, Italy from 1989–91 and acted as external examiner for under-graduate and post-graduate degrees at Pretoria, Potchefstroom, Natal, Stellenbosch and Cape Town Universities. Several of Mason's works deal with the atrocities uncovered by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Mason died in White River 29 December 2016.

Mason was politically aware and was motivated by a strong social conscience. Her work is informed by people, creatures, events and sometimes works of poetry, that touched or deeply disturbed her. Her images run the gamut from expressionist through representational, humorous and starkly symbolic. The history, mythology and ritual of Christianity and the eastern religions provided a fertile fund of inspiration for her work. Mason felt that formalised theology has destroyed the spiritually-nourishing mythological character of primitive religion.

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