Judith Mason was born in Pretoria in 1938 and obtained a BA degree in Fine Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1960. She taught painting at the University of the Witwatersrand and occasionally at other institutions on a casual basis, e.g. University of Pretoria, Michaelis School of Art. From 1962 to 2002 she exhibited frequently in South Africa.

She has works in all major South African art collections as well as in the collections of private and public bodies in Europe and the U.S.A. Public commissions include tapestries in collaboration with Margaret Stephens, and stained–glass window designs for the Great Park Synagogue in Johannesburg. She represented South Africa at the Venice Biennale in 1966 and took part in various Valparaiso and Sao Paolo Biennales in the 1970s.

Her latest exhibition was the retrospective in commemoration of the artist's 70th birthday at the Standard Bank Gallery in Johannesburg (2008) and at the Sasol Art Museum, University of Stellenbosch in 2009. A catalogue "Judith Mason: a prospect of icons" was published with the exhibition.

Publications include a mixed media portfolio in collaboration with Ted Townsend, poet: "A Dante Bestiary" (ombondi editions, New York, 1990); lithographs for "Selected poems" by Patrick Cullinan (The Artist’s Press, 1993) and "Talking pictures" (essays published in 1988 by the Broederstroom Press).