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Karl S. Benjamin (December 29, 1925 – July 26, 2012) was an American painter of vibrant geometric abstractions, who rose to fame in 1959 as one of four
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
-based Abstract Classicists and subsequently produced a critically acclaimed body of work that explores a vast array of color relationships. Working quietly at his home in Claremont, CA, he developed a rich vocabulary of colors and hard-edge shapes in masterful compositions of tightly balanced repose or high-spirited energy. At once intuitive and systematic, the artist is, in the words of critic Christopher Knight, "a colorist of great wit and inventiveness."


Early life

Benjamin was born in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
in 1925. He enrolled at
Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Chart ...
in 1943, but dropped out to join the U.S. Navy during World War II. In 1946, after three years of military service, he moved to California to study English literature, history and philosophy at the University of Redlands with the help of the
G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...
. He received a B.A. degree and California teaching credentials in 1949. With no formal education in art and no thought of becoming an artist, Benjamin married Beverly Jean Paschke, and began teaching in an elementary school in
Bloomington, California Bloomington is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The population was 23,851 at the 2010 census, up from 19,318 at the 2000 census. Though currently unincorporated, many of the town's political acti ...
in 1949. He started a family (daughters Beth Marie and Kris Ellen and son Bruce Lincoln), moved to Claremont in 1952, and subsequently taught in Chino for the next 30 years.


Artistic development

Benjamin's interest in art emerged serendipitously. Asked to develop art lessons for his students' curriculum, he began working with crayons and became fascinated with the phenomenon of how colors can appear to change when juxtaposed with others. Eager to learn more, he took classes at the Claremont Graduate School (now
Claremont Graduate University The Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university in Claremont, California. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges which includes five undergraduate (Pomona College, Claremont McKenna C ...
) and received an M.A. degree in 1960. By then, he was a serious painter and color was his subject matter. In 1954, he had his first solo show, at the Pasadena Art Museum.


The "Four Abstract Classicists" exhibition

Benjamin had early success in Southern California, showing his work in museums and community galleries, but the event that put his work under a national spotlight and gave him a lasting label was "Four Abstract Classicists". Also featuring the work of
Lorser Feitelson Lorser Feitelson (1898–1978) was an artist known as one of the founding fathers of Southern California-based hard-edge painting. Born in Savannah, Georgia, Feitelson was raised in New York City, where his family relocated shortly after his bir ...
, John McLaughlin and Frederick Hammersley, the 1959-60 exhibition was viewed as Los Angeles' answer to
Abstract Expressionism Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...
. The West Coast artists' crisp abstractions offered a bracingly cool alternative to New York's emotion and action-packed style. The exhibition was organized by critic
Jules Langsner Jules Langsner (19111967) was an American art critic and psychiatrist. Born in New York City in 1911 and died in 1967 in California. Although born in New York, Langsner did not grow up in New York. He and his family moved to Ontario, California ...
, and opened at the San Francisco Museum of Art, (now the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...
) then travelled to the Los Angeles County Museum at Exposition Park (now the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 196 ...
). Renamed "West Coast Hard-Edge," the revised version later traveled to the Institute of Contemporary Art in London and Queen's University in
Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...
,
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...
. In the exhibition catalog, Langsner described Abstract Classicist painting as "
Hard-edge painting Hard-edge painting is painting in which abrupt transitions are found between color areas. Color areas are often of one unvarying color. The Hard-edge painting style is related to Geometric abstraction, Op Art, Post-painterly Abstraction, and ...
" in which "color and shape are one and the same entity. Form gains its existence through color and color its being through form." Of Benjamin's work, he wrote: "The elongated forms in the Karl Benjamin paintings interlock in a continuous composition that seems to be without beginning or end. Whenever one of these zigzag shapes appears to overlap an adjacent zigzag, it tucks itself back in somewhere else." " Four Abstract Classicists reveals, in retrospect, not merely four senior moderns who reduced their painting to precise, flat profundities, but a current of sensibility in the esthetic climate of Los Angeles," critic Peter Plagens wrote in 1974. As he saw it, the hard-edge style rose from Los Angeles' "desert air, youthful cleanliness, spatial expanse, architectural tradition" and an optimistic belief in a refined, spiritually charged art that could fulfill human needs for visual and intellectual pleasure. ''Multi Triangles'' (''Untitled # 26'') from 1969, in the collection of the
Honolulu Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. The museum has one of the largest single co ...
, demonstrates the artist's
hard-edge painting Hard-edge painting is painting in which abrupt transitions are found between color areas. Color areas are often of one unvarying color. The Hard-edge painting style is related to Geometric abstraction, Op Art, Post-painterly Abstraction, and ...
style applied to strict
geometric abstraction Geometric abstraction is a form of abstract art based on the use of geometric forms sometimes, though not always, placed in non-illusionistic space and combined into non-objective (non-representational) compositions. Although the genre was pop ...
.


Later life

Benjamin continued teaching in public elementary and middle schools until 1977, balancing his time in the classroom with work in his studio. He had a second teaching career from 1979 to 1994, when he was a professor and artist-in-residence at
Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it beca ...
in Claremont and taught classes at the Claremont Graduate School. He won
National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federa ...
grants in 1983 and 1989. Like many artists with long careers, Benjamin was often overlooked in his later years, but he re-emerged with a burst of exhibitions and critical acclaim.
Louis Stern Fine Arts Louis Stern Fine Arts is an art gallery located at 9002 Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood, California, in the heart of the city’s Avenue of Art and Design. History and development Louis Stern Fine Arts was founded in 1988 by Louis Stern, a second ...
presented exhibitions of his paintings in 2004 and 2007. The Claremont Museum of Art launched its exhibition program in 2007 with a 42-year survey of his work. Benjamin also had a prominent place in "Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design and Culture at Mid-Century," a 2007-09 national traveling show organized by the
Orange County Museum of Art The Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located on the campus of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California. The museum's collection comprises more than 4,500 objects, with a concentration ...
.
Dave Hickey David Hickey (December 5, 1938 – November 12, 2021) was an American art critic who wrote for many American publications including ''Rolling Stone'', ''ARTnews'', '' Art in America'', '' Artforum'', ''Harper's Magazine'', and '' Vanity Fair''. ...
wrote in the catalog, for Benjamin's 2007 exhibition at Louis Stern: Shortly before Benjamin's death, artist David P. Flores planned a large portrait mural for the City of Pomona with Benjamin's approval. The 140' x 40' mural was completed shortly thereafter in 2012.


References


Sources

# Knight, Christopher, "The Beauty of Geometry," Los Angeles Times, June 5, 2007, part E, p. 3. # Langsner, Jules, "Four Abstract Classicists," Los Angeles County Museum, 1959, pp. 10–11. # Plagens, Peter, "Sunshine Muse: Art on the West Coast, 1945-1970," University of California Press, 1974, p. 119-120. # Hickey, Dave, "Dance the Line: Paintings by Karl Benjamin," exhibition catalog, Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood, 2007. # Karabenick, Julie, "Interview with Artist Karl Benjamin," on GEOFORM, 2008


External links


Interview of Karl Benjamin
part o
Los Angeles Art Community - Group Portrait series
Center for Oral History Research, UCLA Library Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles. {{DEFAULTSORT:Benjamin, Karl 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters 2012 deaths 1925 births University of Redlands alumni Claremont Graduate University alumni Pomona College faculty Artists from Chicago 20th-century American male artists