• Biography
    View works. Karl Benjamin, Untitled, 1959
    Untitled, 1959
    View works
    Karl Benjamin (1925–2012) was a defining figure in Hard Edge painting, celebrated for his crisp geometry and vibrant, pulsating color. Born in Chicago, he began his studies at Northwestern University in 1943 before serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II. In 1946, he moved to Southern California, where he completed a BA in English Literature, History, and Philosophy at the University of Redlands in 1949.
     
    Benjamin discovered his passion for painting in the early 1950s, an unexpected turning point that led him to pursue an MFA at Claremont Graduate School, completed in 1960. His emergence coincided with the dynamic postwar Los Angeles art scene. A 1954 solo exhibition at the Pasadena Art Museum marked his early recognition, while his inclusion in the landmark 1959 exhibition Four Abstract Classicists brought him national and international acclaim. His work was later featured in major exhibitions such as Geometric Abstraction in America (1962) and The Responsive Eye (1965).
     
    Benjamin’s paintings are held in major museum collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Seattle Art Museum, Walker Art Center, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
     
     
     
  • Works
    • geometric abstract painting
      Untitled, 1959