Totem Group IV, 1957

Catalog #61

oil on canvas
Signature: initialed and dated lower right - KB '57
Date: 1957
40 x 50 in.
7000632
Provenance:

[Louis Stern Fine Arts, Werst Hollywood, California];
San José Museum of Art, California (museum purchase with funds contributed by the Oshman Family Foundation, in honor of the San José Museum of Art's 35th anniversary).

Exhibition History:

Los Angeles, California, Occidental College, Karl Benjamin, April 7 – May 4, 1958.

Long Beach, California, Long Beach Museum of Art, Paintings by Karl Benjamin: Abstract Classicism, December 7, 1958 – January 4, 1959.

San Jose, California, San Jose Museum of Art, It’s About Time: Celebrating 35 Years, October 3, 2004 – February 13, 2005.

San Jose, California, San Jose Museum of Art, New Year, New Gifts, December 16, 2006 – May 20, 2007.

San Jose, California, San Jose Museum of Art, Local Color, July 26, 2012 – January 13, 2013.

Santa Ana, California, Orange County Museum of Art, Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury, October 7, 2007 – January 6, 2008.

Santa Ana, California, Orange County Museum of Art, Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury, October 7, 2007 - January 6, 2008. Also exhibited:
Andover, Massachusetts, Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, February 15 – April 13, 2008;
Oakland, California, Oakland Museum of California, May 17– August 17, 2008;
St. Louis, Missouri, Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University, September 19, 2008 – January 5, 2009;
Austin, Texas, Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, February 22 – May 17, 2009.

References:

Hart, Hugh. “Midcentury Mod and All That Jazz.” Los Angeles Times, 7 October 2007, sec. F, p. F9.

Armstrong, Elizabeth. “The Square and the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury.” Art Ltd., (November 2007), reproduced p. 6.

Finkel, Jori. “Karl Benjamin’s Colorful Resurgence.” The New York Times, 7 October 2007, sec. Art, p. 30.

“Dance the Line: Paintings by Karl Benjamin (Slideshow).” The New York Times, 7 October 2007.

Chang, Richard. “Top 10 List – Visual Art.” The Orange County Register, 31 December 2007, Sec. The Arts Blog.

Armstrong, Elizabeth, et al. Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury. Newport Beach: Orange County Museum of Art, 2007, reproduced in color on page 98.