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Selected Works

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Afternoon On The Missouri  26 x 32"  Oil On Canvas

Afternoon On The Missouri

26 x 32"

Oil On Canvas

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Approaching Storm, Saline County  30" x 40"  Oil On Canvas

Approaching Storm, Saline County

30" x 40"

Oil On Canvas

 

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Big Sky In The Bottomlands  52" x 64"  Oil On Canvas

Big Sky In The Bottomlands

52" x 64"

Oil On Canvas

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Cliff Swallows Over The Missouri  22" x 40"  Oil On Canvas

Cliff Swallows On The Missouri

40" x 36"

Oil On Canvas

 

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Winter Corn Crib  22" x 30"  Oil On Canvas

Corn Crib, Winter Fields (SOLD)

24" x 30"

Oil On Canvas

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Country Road  30" x 40"  Oil On Canvas

Country Road (SOLD)

30" x 40"

Oil On Canvas

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Evening On The Missouri  22″ x 32″  Oil On Canvas

Evening On The Missouri

26″ x 32″

Oil On Canvas

 

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Farm Road In Winter  11" x 14"  Oil On Board

Farm Road In Winter (SOLD)

11" x 14"

Oil On Board

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Flood, Bottomlands  8" x 10"  Oil On Panel

Flood, Bottomlands (SOLD)

8" x 10"

Oil On Panel

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Heating Up (SOLD)  8" x 10"  Oil On Canvas

Heating Up (SOLD)

8" x 10"

Oil On Canvas

 

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Hot Sky  8" x 10"  Oil On Panel

Hot Sky (SOLD)

8" x 10"

Oil On Panel

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Maybrook Morning  10" x 8"  Oil On Panel

Maybrook Morning

10" x 8"

Oil On Panel

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Maybrook With Three White Pines  12" x 12"  Oil On Panel

Maybrook With Three White Pines

12" x 12"

Oil On Panel

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Missouri Bottomlands  22″ x 16″  Oil On Panel

Missouri Bottomlands

16″ x 20″

Oil On Panel

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Morning On The Missouri  22" x 32"  Oil On Canvas

Morning On The Missouri

26" x 32"

Oil On Canvas

 

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Path Through A Meadow  8" x 10"  Oil On Panel

Path Through A Meadow

8" x 10"

Oil On Panel

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Richie Allen in Connie Mack  30" x 40"  Oil On Canvas

Richie Allen in Connie Mack

30" x 40"

Oil On Canvas

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Rosy Fingers, Napton  16" x 20"  Oil On Board

Rosy Fingers, Napton (SOLD)

16" x 20"

Oil On Board

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Saline County, Summer Sky  22″ x 40″  Oil On Canvas

Saline County, Summer Sky

30″ x 40″

Oil On Canvas

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Silos, Cows, Crows  22" x 28"  Oil On Canvas

Silos, Cows, Crows

22" x 28"

Oil On Canvas

 

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Snowed In,  16" x 20"  Oil On Board

Snowed In, Napton (SOLD)

16" x 20"

Oil On Board

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Storm Approaching, Napton  18" x 14"  Oil On Board

Storm Approaching, Napton

18" x 14"

Oil On Board

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Summer Bottomlands, 22" x 32"  Oil On Canvas

Summer Bottomlands (SOLD)

9" x 12"

Oil On Canvas

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The Flood of 2018  36" x 22"  Oil On Canvas

The Flood of 2018

36" x 22"

Oil On Canvas

 

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Twilight, Saline County  24" x 22"  Oil On Canvas

Twilight, Saline County

24" x 22"

Oil On Canvas

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Venus Rising  22" x 40"  Oil On Canvas

Venus Rising

30" x 40"

Oil On Canvas

 

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Bang Bang  36" x 48"  Oil On Canvas

Bang Bang

36" x 48"

Oil On Canvas

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Afternoon On The Missouri  26 x 32"  Oil On Canvas

Afternoon On The Missouri

26 x 32"

Oil On Canvas

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Approaching Storm, Saline County  30" x 40"  Oil On Canvas

Approaching Storm, Saline County

30" x 40"

Oil On Canvas

 

Big Sky In The Bottomlands  52" x 64"  Oil On Canvas

Big Sky In The Bottomlands

52" x 64"

Oil On Canvas

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Cliff Swallows Over The Missouri  22" x 40"  Oil On Canvas

Cliff Swallows On The Missouri

40" x 36"

Oil On Canvas

 

Winter Corn Crib  22" x 30"  Oil On Canvas

Corn Crib, Winter Fields (SOLD)

24" x 30"

Oil On Canvas

Country Road  30" x 40"  Oil On Canvas

Country Road (SOLD)

30" x 40"

Oil On Canvas

Evening On The Missouri  22″ x 32″  Oil On Canvas

Evening On The Missouri

26″ x 32″

Oil On Canvas

 

Farm Road In Winter  11" x 14"  Oil On Board

Farm Road In Winter (SOLD)

11" x 14"

Oil On Board

Flood, Bottomlands  8" x 10"  Oil On Panel

Flood, Bottomlands (SOLD)

8" x 10"

Oil On Panel

Heating Up (SOLD)  8" x 10"  Oil On Canvas

Heating Up (SOLD)

8" x 10"

Oil On Canvas

 

Hot Sky  8" x 10"  Oil On Panel

Hot Sky (SOLD)

8" x 10"

Oil On Panel

Maybrook Morning  10" x 8"  Oil On Panel

Maybrook Morning

10" x 8"

Oil On Panel

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Maybrook With Three White Pines  12" x 12"  Oil On Panel

Maybrook With Three White Pines

12" x 12"

Oil On Panel

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Missouri Bottomlands  22″ x 16″  Oil On Panel

Missouri Bottomlands

16″ x 20″

Oil On Panel

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Morning On The Missouri  22" x 32"  Oil On Canvas

Morning On The Missouri

26" x 32"

Oil On Canvas

 

Path Through A Meadow  8" x 10"  Oil On Panel

Path Through A Meadow

8" x 10"

Oil On Panel

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Richie Allen in Connie Mack  30" x 40"  Oil On Canvas

Richie Allen in Connie Mack

30" x 40"

Oil On Canvas

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Rosy Fingers, Napton  16" x 20"  Oil On Board

Rosy Fingers, Napton (SOLD)

16" x 20"

Oil On Board

Saline County, Summer Sky  22″ x 40″  Oil On Canvas

Saline County, Summer Sky

30″ x 40″

Oil On Canvas

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Silos, Cows, Crows  22" x 28"  Oil On Canvas

Silos, Cows, Crows

22" x 28"

Oil On Canvas

 

Snowed In,  16" x 20"  Oil On Board

Snowed In, Napton (SOLD)

16" x 20"

Oil On Board

Storm Approaching, Napton  18" x 14"  Oil On Board

Storm Approaching, Napton

18" x 14"

Oil On Board

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Summer Bottomlands, 22" x 32"  Oil On Canvas

Summer Bottomlands (SOLD)

9" x 12"

Oil On Canvas

The Flood of 2018  36" x 22"  Oil On Canvas

The Flood of 2018

36" x 22"

Oil On Canvas

 

Twilight, Saline County  24" x 22"  Oil On Canvas

Twilight, Saline County

24" x 22"

Oil On Canvas

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Venus Rising  22" x 40"  Oil On Canvas

Venus Rising

30" x 40"

Oil On Canvas

 

Bang Bang  36" x 48"  Oil On Canvas

Bang Bang

36" x 48"

Oil On Canvas

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Max Mason - Artists - Gross McCleaf Gallery

Napton Roadside, 20" x 16", Oil On Canvas

Life is messy. Maybe that’s why we’re attracted to the “picturesque”; the order and stillness of Edward Hopper’s “Sunday Morning”, the gauzy atmospherics and simple contrast of two figures, one old, one young in George Caleb Bingham’s “Fur Traders on the Missouri River” - two undoubtedly picturesque paintings. While these simple, direct, light-filled canvases are no doubt attractive to the eye, it’s the complexity under the surface, the melancholy implication of the passage of time and our own mortality that stirs deeper currents and causes those images to stay fixed in our brains. And it is the contrast between the two, the surface calm with the depths of darker thought that make these great works of art. The 16th century Dutch painter Bruegel was genius at depicting the complicated and messy truth of his life and times. The regional painters of the 20’s and 30’s and 40’s, Thomas Hart Benton, George Bellows, Maynard Dixon, Rockwell Kent, and the painters known as The Canadian Seven are inspiring in this way. Their paintings are about familiar territory and larger, darker truths.

The intimacy of known ground is a rich and complicated source of inspiration. I paint places I know and love with a non-ironic, mostly straightforward, sometimes romantic vision. It can be the back yard or places in my personal history that are full of wonder and awe. Of particular interest to me are baseball players, fields and stadia, a passion that dates back to the summers I spent in St. Louis at my grandparent’s house, a place filled with love and my adolescent fantasies of being a ballplayer. To this day I long for the pure joy and wonderment I felt imagining the light filled space of the ballpark. The only way I have found to capture and communicate this feeling is by organizing and unifying the visual elements with a specific light, and a strong composition.These elements are timeless artistic virtues and organizing principles that I try to base my work on.

Max Mason - Artists - Gross McCleaf Gallery

Afternoon On The Missouri, 26" x 32", Oil On Canvas

"In a recently discovered letter, my father relates how much baseball has meant to him, his father, and grandfather through the years. That's four generations, back to the 19th century, that loved, and continue to love the game."

- Max Mason

Max Mason - Artists - Gross McCleaf Gallery

Twilight, Saline County, 22" x 24", Oil On Canvas

Born in 1952, Max Mason grew up in the Boston area, attended Belmont Hill School and then Vassar College where he graduated in 1975 with a degree in Geology. He began studying art his senior year in college and after some adventures moved to Philadelphia with his future wife in 1981 to study with the landscape painter Neil Welliver at The University of Pennsylvania. He had his first one person show of large landscape paintings at the Gross McCleaf Gallery in 1986.

 

Soon after he began painting baseball subjects and had a one person show at the Butler Institute of American Art in 1992. In 2004 he was commissioned by the Philadelphia Phillies to do a number of paintings and murals for their new ballpark. He has exhibited internationally and has had over 20 one person shows nationwide.

 

Mason is represented by Gross McCleaf Gallery in Philadelphia and will have and will have his second one person show at The Butler Institute in the spring of 2021. He is also a musician and performs with his daughter Margaret as well as with the power swing band “The After Dinner Mints”. He released his first album, “Social Security” in 2020. He and his wife live in Wynnewood, PA.