Darrington Rain

1947

American, 1919 - 2013

In 1940, Mason enrolled at the University of Washington to study entomology, but almost immediately found an insatiable interest in life drawing and soon changed his major to fine art, receiving an MFA in 1947. In this watercolor, we see the young artist's impression of storm clouds on the horizon in Darrington, WA, a small town nestled near the western base of the Cascade Mountains, northeast of Everett, WA where Mason was born. Here, the artist articulates in paint the distinct atmosphere of the climate of the Northwest, a region he knows intimately-Mason was raised on a farm in the Skagit Valley just north of Seattle and has lived nearly his entire life in this region. Today, at the age of ninety-one, Mason continues to maintain a studio in Seattle.

Watercolor on paper

22 1/4 x 31 in. (56.5 x 78.7 cm)

Music and Art Foundation Purchase Prize

47.139

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryBellevue, Washington, Bellevue Arts Museum, Alden Mason: Fly Your Own Thing, May 14 - Oct. 10, 2021.

Published ReferencesHull, Roger, et al. Alden Mason Paintings. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2021; p. 136, reproduced fig. 3.2.

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

Learn more about Equity at SAM