Frank Henry Mason

Not to be confused with Frank Herbert Mason.

Frank Henry Mason
Frank Henry Mason's Saltburn-on-Sea rail poster
Born	Frank Henry Algernon Mason (1875-10-01)1 October 1875 Seaton Carew, County Durham, England
Died
Nationality	English
Education	with Albert Strange at Scarborough College of Art
Known for	Painting, Drawing, Etching
Movement	light impressionist
Elected	RBA, RI, RSMA
Patron(s)	GNR, GWR, LMS, NER, LNER, BR

Frank Henry Mason (1 October 1875 – 24 February 1965), RBA, RI, RSMA was an artist best known for his maritime, shipping, coastal and harbour paintings and as a creator of art deco travel and railway posters. His style is described as 'light impressionist' and he was a founder member of the Staithes Art Club whose members are known today as the Staithes group of artists, or the Northern Impressionists.

Early life

Mason was born Frank Henry Algernon Mason in Seaton Carew, Hartlepool, County Durham, England on 1 October 1875, the son of a railway clerk. He was educated between 1880 and 1882 as a cadet at the HMS Conway Naval School at Birkenhead.

Career

On leaving HMS Conway, Mason spent time at sea then trained with Parsons as a marine engineer for steam powered ships working at Hartlepool, Leeds and Scarborough, eventually settling in Scarborough around about 1894.

Frank had been interested in drawing but had no formal training in art. There was however a strong artistic community in Scarborough at the time. Frank studied at the Scarborough School of Art with Albert Strange and made regular trips to Staithes to meet and socialise with the arts community there. By 1890 Frank's work had advanced to the point where he received commissions from art dealers, and around 1898 he decided to quit marine engineering and take up art full-time. In 1901 he became a founder member of the Staithes Art Club.

Frank married his wife Edith in 1899. Frank had lived at Blenheim Terrace in Scarborough but relocated the short distance to lodgings in North Marine Road. During the First World War, Mason was appointed shipping war artist in the RNVR as lieutenant in command of a motor launch in the North Sea, and Egypt. The Imperial War Museum holds 56 of his paintings from this period.

On returning from the war Frank worked with the community at Ebberston Hall near Scarborough and he travelled abroad extensively undertaking an extended European tour. He painted many subjects generally in water colour. During the 1920s and 1930s he designed poster artwork for Great Northern Railway, Great Western Railway, London, Midland and Scottish Railway, North Eastern Railway, London and North Eastern Railway, British Rail and Underground Group railway companies and ocean liner companies.

Mason was elected to the Royal Society of British Artists in 1904 and elected to the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 1929.

Work

Mason had exhibitions of his work at the Royal Academy from 1902 onwards. His work has been included in an exhibition in Liverpool and in 1973 there was an exhibition of his work at the National Maritime Museum. As well as the Imperial War Museum, Mason's work can be found in numerous galleries around the country – at Cartwright Hall Bradford, in Dundee, Hartlepool, and at Whitby.

Mason wrote the book Ashore and Afloat (1929) about his water colour technique. With Fred Taylor, he wrote the book Water Colour Painting.

Further reading

• Yardley, Edward; The Life and Career of Frank Henry Mason, Hartlepool Museum Services, (1996)
• Yardley, Edward; Frank Henry Mason. Marine Painter and Poster Artist, Colley Books, (2015)

External links

• Frank Henry Mason life and works
• Albert Strange Association
• Frank Henry Mason paintings at the BBC
• Works by Frank Henry Mason at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Frank Henry Mason at Internet Archive