Judith Mason was born in Pretoria in 1938. She studied at the University of the Witwatersrand in the 1950s, obtaining a BA Degree in Fine Art in 1960. Her first solo show was held in 1964. In the 1970s and 80s Mason was highly visible in the South African art world at a time when the country was isolated both politically and culturally from the rest of the world. Even so, she was chosen to represent South Africa at the Venice Biennale, and at international art fairs, like Art Basel. In the early 1990s Mason returned from living and teaching in Florence, Italy.
Mason is still prolific well into in the 21st century and is represented in major public collections in South Africa, as well as in collections in Europe, the USA and Australia. Her public commissions include tapestries in collaboration with Marguerite Stephens for The Royal Hotel in Durban, and stained-glass window designs for the Great Park Synagogue in Johannesburg. Apart from producing a large body of work over the decades, Mason has published her work in books, sometimes in collaboration with poets. She lives and work in South Africa, and has a studio in the United States of America.
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