1925
Born in Chicago, Illinois, December 29.

1943-1946
Serves in the U.S. Navy.

1946
Moves to Redlands, California.

1949
Marries Beverly Paschke, January.

1949
Earns Bachelor’s degree in English Literature, History & Philosophy from University of Redlands, California.

Begins teaching a sixth grade class at Cedar Street Elementary School in Bloomington, California.

1950
First daughter Beth Marie is born September 19.

After becoming interested in the art that his students created, Benjamin makes initial attempts at his own paintings.  Working in isolation, he replicates artistic styles he admires, seeking inspiration from art books and magazines.

1951
Moves to Claremont, California with his family. Attends Claremont Graduate School with assistance from the G.I. Bill.

1953
Resumes teaching in Chino, California; teaches elementary school continuously until 1979.

Second daughter Kris Ellen is born March 25.

1954
First major solo show at the Pasadena Art Museum. The exhibition features abstract works inspired by nature, as well as modernist landscapes and still-lifes. Benjamin is later inspired to move towards geometric abstraction in his work.

1955
First son Bruce Lincoln is born March 12.

Moves into his current home in Claremont, a mid-century modern post and beam house designed by Fred McDowell.

1955-1959
Benjamin’s work becomes less referential and more abstract as he integrates architectural and biomorphic forms and hard lines. Period includes “Totem Groups” and “Plant Forms” series.

1959
Featured in seminal exhibition “Four Abstract Classicists” curated by Jules Langsner. The show also included artists Lorser Feitelson, Frederick Hammersley, and John McLaughlin.  Langsner coins the term “Hard Edge” to refer to the forms apparent in the work of the Abstract Classicists. The exhibition opens at the San Fransisco Museum of Art (now San Francisco Museum of Modern Art), travels to the Los Angeles County Museum at Exposition Park, and later to the Institue of Contemporary Art, London and to Queen’s Univerisy, Belfast under a different title, “West Coast Hard Edge,” catalogued by Laurence Alloway.

1960
After a five-year period of part-time attendance, Benjamin earns a Master’s of Art from Claremont Graduate University. Artist and CGU Professor Jean Ames proves integral to his studies.

1960-61
“Tape-Grid” and “Vertical Stripes” series.

1961-62
“Floating Structures” series.

1964-65
“Alphabet” series.

1966-73
Elaborate grid paintings using triangle patterns.

1974-75
Simplified rectangular forms featuring unique color palettes.

1976-81
Stripes.

1979-96
Professor of Art and Resident Artist of drawing and painting at Pomona College and Claremont Graduate University.

1981-86
Patterns.

1983
Awarded National Endowment for the Arts Grant for Visual Arts.

1988-89
Karl Benjamin: A Retrospective, 1955-1987 opens at the Shasta College Art Gallery, Redding, California, and travels to University of the Pacific, Stockton, California, and California State University Northridge.

1989
Awarded National Endowment for the Arts Grant for Visual Arts.

1990
Major solo exhibition A Ten-Year Survey at The Art Galleries of Claremont Graduate School.

1991-92
Major solo exhibition Karl Benjamin: Paintings 1955-1990 organized by Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, and Snyder Fine Art, New York.

1996-2012
Professor Emeritus, Claremont Graduate University.

2004
Major solo exhibition with catalogue Karl Benjamin: Paintings from 1950-1965 at Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood.

2005
Major solo exhibition with catalogue Karl Benjamin: Drawings from 1950-1965 at Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood.

2007-09
Prominently featured in national traveling exhibition organized by the Orange County Museum of Art, Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design and Culture at Mid-Century.

2007
Major solo exhibition with cataloge Dance the Line: Paintings by Karl Benjamin at Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood.

Major solo exhibition A Conversation With Color: Karl Benjamin, Paintings 1953 – 1995 at Claremont Museum of Art.

2008
Major solo exhibition The Vibrant Edge: Paintings of Karl Benjamin from the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s at the Oceanside Museum of Art.

2009
Major solo exhibition Karl Benjamin: Paintings and Installation at The Art Galleries of Claremont Graduate University.

2011
Major solo exhibition with catalogue Karl Benjamin and the Evolution of Abstraction, 1950-1980 at Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood.

2011-12
Extensively featured in the Getty initiative Pacific Standard Time: Art in Los Angeles, 1945-1980.  Exhibits in major shows including Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents in L.A. Painting and Sculpture, 1945-1970 at the J. Paul Getty Museum and Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin, Artistic Evolution: Southern California Artists at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, and Civic Virtue: The Impact of the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery and the Watts Towers Arts Center.

2012
Exhibits in The 186th Annual Exhibition at the National Academy Museum of New York.

Exhibits in Pasadena to Santa Barbara: A Selected History of Art in Southern California, 1951-1969 at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.

Dies July 26, 2012 in Claremont, California.

2013
Exhibits in Four Abstract Classicists at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (December 21, 2013 – June 29, 2014).

2014
Major solo exhibition Karl Benjamin – The Late Paintings at Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood.

Exhibits in Recent Acquisitions 2013-2014 at The Honolulu Museum of Art (December 4, 2014 – February 15, 2015).

2015
Exhibits in The Triumph of Love: Beth Rudin Dewoody Collects at the Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida. (February 7 – May 3).

2016
Major solo exhibition Close Values: The Legacy of Karl Benjamin at Mt. San Antonio College, Walnut.

2020
Major solo exhibition The Karl Benjamin X Comme Des Garçons Project at Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood.