The Hard-Edged Genius of Karl Benjamin: Selections from the Family Collection

Karl Benjamin (1925-2012) is one of the major artists whose career was nurtured in the Pomona Valley. His significance in art history emerged from the now-iconic exhibition Four Abstract Classicists (1959).  The exhibit traveled from California to Europe establishing  Benjamin (with his colleagues, Fred Hammersley, Lorser Feitelson and John McLaughlin) as leading figures of a new art movement that came to be known as Hard Edge. For 28 years, Benjamin taught elementary school in Chino, raised a family in Claremont, and in 1979 was appointed to the faculty of Pomona College and the Claremont Graduate University.  His ongoing presence in Claremont impacted generations of artists.

As part of the regional celebration of his 100th birthday, CCMA is proud to display these rarely-seen works from the Benjamin family’s private collection.  This selection demonstrates the range and diversity of Benjamin’s creativity, within the idiom of controlled hard-edge abstraction.

CCMA gratefully acknowledges the Brulte Family for sponsoring the exhibition, and the assistance of Beth Benjamin in organizing the exhibition.