2021 Karl Benjamin: Selected Paintings 1967 – 1978, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA, USA
2019 The Karl Benjamin X Comme des Garçons Project, Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood, CA, USA
2018 Karl Benjamin: Alphabet Paintings, David Klein Gallery, Birmingham, MI, USA
2017 Karl Benjamin: The Alphabet, Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood, CA, USA
2014 Karl Benjamin – The Late Paintings, Louis Stern Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2011 Karl Benjamin and the Evolution of Abstraction, 1950-1980, Louis Stern Fine Arts,
West Hollywood, CA, USA
2009 Karl Benjamin: Paintings and Installation, The Art Galleries of Claremont Graduate University,
Claremont, CA, USA
2008 The Vibrant Edge: Paintings of Karl Benjamin from the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s,
Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside, CA, USA
2007 Dance the Line: Paintings by Karl Benjamin, Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood, CA, USA
2007 A Conversation With Color: Karl Benjamin, Paintings 1953 – 1995, Claremont Museum of Art,
Claremont, CA, USA
2006 Alphabet Series: 1964-1965, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA, USA
2006 India Ink Drawings from the 1950’s, Lawrence Markey, San Antonio, TX, USA
2005 Karl Benjamin: Drawings from 1950 – 1965, Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood, CA, USA
2004 Karl Benjamin: Paintings from 1950 – 1965, Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood, CA, USA
2003 Stripe Paintings: 1979-1981, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA, USA 5.
2001 (Mostly) Random Rectangles, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA, USA
2001 Karl Benjamin: A Selected Retrospective, Cuttress Fine Art, Pomona, CA, USA
1998 Paintings from the 50’s and 90’s, Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA. Exhibited in conjunction
with Sunshine & Noir, Armand Hammer Museum, University of Califronia Los Angeles, CA, USA
1994 The Pomona Years: 1979-1994, A Retrospective, Montgomery Gallery, Pomona College,
Pomona, California.
91-92 Karl Benjamin: Paintings 1955-1990, Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA. Also shown at
Snyder Fine Art, NY, USA
1990 A Ten-Year Survey, The Art Galleries of Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, CA, USA
1986 Selected Works 1979-1986, Los Angeles Municipal Art Galleries, Barnsdall Park, Los Angeles, CA, USA
1984 University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
1983 Francine Seders Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
1982 Stella Polaris Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
1982 California State University, Bakersfield, CA, USA
1981 Karl Benjamin: Paintings from the 50’s, Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA, USA
1981 Shasta College Art Gallery, Redding, CA, USA
1980 Karl Benjamin 1970-1980, University of Redlands, Redlands, CA, USA
1980 Cheney-Cowles Museum, Spokane, WA, USA
1980 Francine Seders Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
1979 Francine Seders Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
1978 Francine Seders Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
1978 Karl Benjamin: Recent Paintings, Tortue Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, USA
1975 Tortue Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, USA
1972 University of Redlands, Redlands, CA, USA
1971 William Sawyer Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
1971 Muckenthaler Cultural Center, Fullerton, CA, USA
1970 Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
1970 San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA, USA
1969 Mount San Antonio College, Walnut, CA, USA
1968 Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
1968 Henri Gallery, Washington D.C., USA
1966 Hollis Galleries, San Francisco, CA, USA
1965 Esther-Robles Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
1965 Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA, USA
1964 Esther-Robles Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
1964 Hollis Galleries, San Francisco, CA, USA
1963 Esther-Robles Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
1962 Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
1962 Esther-Robles Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
1961 San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA, USA
1961 Bolles Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
1960 Esther-Robles Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
1960 Lang Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, CA, USA
1959 Esther-Robles Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
58-59 Paintings by Karl Benjamin: Abstract Classicism, Long Beach Museum of Art,
Long Beach, CA, USA
1958 Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA, USA
1956 University of Redlands, Redlands, CA, USA
1956 Jack Carr Gallery, Pasadena, CA, USA
1954 Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, CA, USA
1953 Claremont Book and Art Gallery, Claremont, CA, USA
1953 University of Redlands, Redlands, CA, USA
Group exhibitions (selected)
2021 Break + Bleed, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA, USA
2021 Benjamin, Maloof & McIntosh, Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood, CA, USA
2020 In the Flow, Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV, USA
2020 Valley of Gold: Southern California and the Phantasmagoric, Kasmin Gallery, NY, USA
2020 The Responsive Eye Revisited: Then, Now, and In-Between, Miles McEnery Gallery, NY, USA
2019 Bold Abstractions: Paintings from the Thoma Collection, Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL, USA
2018 Collecting On The Edge, Utah State University Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Logan, UT, USA
2018 California: North and South, Heather James Fine Art, San Francisco, CA, USA
2018 Intersecting at the Edge: Karl Benjamin, Heather Gwen Martin and Eric Zammitt,
Claremont Museum of Art, CA, USA
2018 1960s California Hard-Edge, Flowers Gallery, London, UK
2015 Post-Op: ‘The Responsive Eye’ 50 Years After, David Richard Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, USA
2014 HM100: A Century through the Life of Harrison McIntosh, American Museum of Ceramic Art,
Pomona, CA, USA
2014 Recent Acquisitions, Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, HI, USA
2012 Pasadena to Santa Barbara: A Selected History of Art in Southern California, 1951-1969,
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
2012 The 186th Annual Exhibition, National Academy Museum, NY, USA
2012 Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents in L.A. Painting and Sculpture 1945–1970,
Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, DE
2012 Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents in L.A. Painting and Sculpture 1945–1970,
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2012 The House That Sam Built: Sam Maloof and Art in the Pomona Valley, 1945–1985, Huntington Library,
Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA, USA
2011 Civic Virtue: The Impact of the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery and the Watts Towers Arts Center,
Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2011 Color Field Revisited, Loretta Howard Gallery, NY, USA
2011 High Fidelity: Selections from the 1960s and 1970s, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA, USA
2011 Southern California Hard Edge, Art Paris, Paris, FR
2011 Structured Color, D. Wigmore Fine Art, NY, USA
2010 Softcore Hard Edge, The Art Gallery of Calgary, Alberta, CN
2010 Wall-to-Wall, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2009 Looking Forward Looking Back: The Collection in Context, Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV, USA
07–09 Birth of the Cool; California Art, Design and Culture at Midcentury,
Orange County Museum of Art (and traveling venues)
2008 California Calling: Works from Santa Barbara Collections, 1948–2008,
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
2008 Circa 1958: Breaking Ground in American Art, Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
2007 Optic Nerve: Perceptual Art of the 1960s, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH, USA
2007 After Image: Op Art of the 1960s, Jacobson Howard Gallery, NY, USA
2006 2006 Peace Tower (Whitney Biennial Day for Night), Whitney Museum of American Art, NY, USA
2006 Driven to Abstraction: Southern California and the Non-Objective World, 1900–1980,
Riverside Museum, Riverside, CA, USA
2006 Collection Histories/Collective Memories: California Modern, Orange County Museum of Art,
Newport Beach, CA, USA
2005 Evolution in Abstraction: Antecedents + Descendents, D. Wigmore Fine Art, NY, US
2004 The Los Angeles School (curated by Dave Hickey), Ben Maltz Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2004 Human Presence: Works from the Museum’s Collection, San Diego Museum of Art,
San Diego, CA, USA
2004 Daimler Chrysler Collection: Minimalism and After III, Daimler Chrysler Contemporary, Berlin, DE
2004 Beyond Geometry: Experiments in Form 1940s–1970s, Los Angeles County Museum of Art,
Los Angeles, CA, USA
2003 (Un)Taped: Hard-Edge Paintings, Huntington Beach Art Center, Huntington Beach, CA, USA
2002 Ideal Abstraction 1955–1965, Gary Snyder Fine Art, NY, USA
2001 Four Abstract Classicists, Gary Snyder Fine Art, NY, USA
2000 Four Abstract Classicists Plus One, Tobey Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
1998 Elusive Paradise: Los Angeles Art from the Permanent Collection,
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA
1997 Eyedazzlers, University Art Museum, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
1997 Geometric Abstraction 1937–1997, Snyder Fine Art, NY, USA
1996 California Focus, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA, USA
1996 Some Grids: The Theme of the Grid in 20th Century Art,
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA
1993 Four Abstract Classicists: West Coast Hard Edge, Modernism Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
1993 California: Art from the 1930s to the Present, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,
San Francisco, CA, USA
1992 Selections from the Permanent Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA
90–92 Turning the Tide: Early Los Angeles Modernists: 1920–1956,
Laguna Art Museum (traveling venues)
1989 Blueprints for Modern Living, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA
1987 Insights, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA, USA
1986 Four Abstract Classicists: A Look at 1950s California Hard-Edge Painting, R.C. Erpf Gallery, NY, USA
1984 A Focus on California: Selections from the Permanent Collection,
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA, USA
1984 The Twentieth Century: The SFMMA Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,
San Francisco, CA, USA
1982 Los Angeles Hard Edge, Tobey Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
1981 California Artists: 1940–1980, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA, USA
1981 Pacific Coast Museum Selections, National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC, USA
1980 West Coast: Art for the Vice-President’s House, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA
1979 Art, Inc.: American Paintings from Corporate Collections,
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts (traveling venues)
1979 Los Angeles Abstract Painting, University Art Museum, University of New Mexico,
Albuquerque, NM, USA
1977 California: 5 Footnotes to Modern Art History, Los Angeles County Museum of Art,
Los Angeles, CA, USA
1977 35th Biennial Exhibition of American Painting, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA
1976 Paintings and Sculpture in California: The Modern Era, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
1971 Pacific Cities Loan Exhibition, Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland, NZ
1969 Los Angeles Annual Art Exhibition, Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
1967 30th Biennial Exhibition of American Painting, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA
1967 Contemporary American Painting, The White House, Washington, DC, USA
1966 85th Annual Exhibition of the San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,
San Francisco, CA, USA
1966 American Painting, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, USA
1966 California Painters and Sculptors Invitational, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA, USA
1965 The Responsive Eye, Museum of Modern Art, NY, USA
1965 The Colorists: 1950–1965, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, USA
1965 Survey of Contemporary Art, J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY, USA
1965 Denver Museum Annual, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO, USA
1964 California Hard Edge Painting, Pavilion Gallery, Balboa, CA, USA
1962 50 California Artists, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (traveling venues)
1962 Geometric Abstraction in America, Whitney Museum of American Art, NY, USA
1960 West Coast Hard Edge, Institute of Contemporary Art, London, UK
1960 Purist Painting, American Federation of Arts (traveling venues)
1959 Four Abstract Classicists, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art /
Los Angeles County Museum of Art / Institute of Contemporary Art London
1958 Arts of Southern California II: Painting, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA, USA
Publications
Muchnic, Suzanne. "Fill Up the Space and Don’t Mess Around.” (catalogue essay) Karl Benjamin and the Evolution of Abstraction, 1950-1980. West Hollywood, California, 2011: Louis Stern Fine Arts.
Kienholz, Lyn, Elizabeta Betinski, and Corinne Nelson. L.A. Rising: SoCal Artists before 1980. Los Angeles, California, 2010: California/International Arts Foundation.
Anderson, Susan M. Collecting California: Selections from Laguna Art Museum. Laguna Beach, California, 2009: Laguna Art Museum.
Wiehager, Renate. Minimalism and After: Tradition and Tendencies of Minimalism from 1950 to the Present. Germany, 2008: Hatje Cantz.
Hickey, Dave. "Karl Benjamin: A New Past is Now Available.” (catalogue essay) Dance the Line: Paintings by Karl Benjamin. West Hollywood, California. 2007: Louis Stern Fine Arts.
Nelson, Harold B. "Karl Benjamin: The Early Years.” (catalogue essay) Karl Benjamin: Paintings from 1950-1965. West Hollywood, California. 2004: Louis Stern Fine Arts.
Wiehager, Renate. "Daimler Chrysler Collection: Minimalism and After III.” (catalogue), Daimler Chrylser AG, Berlin, 2003, pages 18-19.
"Four Abstract Classicists: West Coast Hard-Edge,” (catalogue). San Francisco, California, 1993: Modernism Gallery.
Frank, Peter. "Karl Benjamin: In Microspect.” (catalogue essay), Karl Benjamin: Paintings 1955-1990. Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, California and Snyder Fine Art, New York, 1991.
Atkins, Robert. Artspeak: a Guide to Contemporary Ideas, Movements, and Buzzwords. New York: Abbeville. 1990.
Ehrlich, Susan and Paul J. Karlstrom. Turning the Tide: Early Los Angeles Modernists 1920-1956. (catalogue) Santa Barbara Museum of Art and Laguna Art Museum, California, pages 43-44. 1990.
Schipper, Merle. "Karl Benjamin: A Retrospective 1955-1987.” (catalogue) Redding Museum and Art Center, University of the Pacific, Redding, California and California State University, Northridge, California. 1989.
Schipper, Merle. "Karl Benjamin: Selected Works 1979 -1986.” (catalogue). Los Angeles, California, 1986: Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Art Park.
Schipper, Merle. "Paintings from the Fifties.” (catalogue). Malibu, California, 1981: Art Gallery, Pepperdine University.
Fox, Louis. "Karl Benjamin: 1970-1980.” (catalogue). Redlands, California, 1980: University of Redlands.
Wortz, Melinda. "Los Angeles Abstract Painting.” (catalogue) University of New Mexico, Albuquerque and University of California, Riverside. 1979.
App, Timothy. "Karl Benjamin: Recent Paintings.” (catalogue). Santa Monica, California, 1978: Tortue Gallery.
Schipper, Merle. "California: 5 Footnotes to Modern Art History.” (catalogue), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, page 53. 1977.
Mount San Antonio College Art Gallery, (catalogue), Walnut, California, 1969.
"Colorists: 1950-1965.” (catalogue), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California. 1965.
Langsner, Jules. "California Hard Edge Painting.” (catalogue). Balboa, California, 1964: Pavilion Gallery.
Langsner, Jules. "Four Abstract Classicists.” (catalogue) Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California. 1959.
Works in collections
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD, USA
Cheney Cowles State Museum, Spokane, WA, USA
Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA, USA
Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO, USA
Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA, USA
Henry Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, D.C., USA
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA, USA
La Jolla Museum of Art, La Jolla, CA, USA
Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA, USA
Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Mt. San Antonio College, Walnut Creek, CA, USA
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA
Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV, USA
Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA, USA
Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University, Logan, UT
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolin
Norton Simon Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA, USA
Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA, USA
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA, USA
Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena, CA, USA
Pitzer College, Claremont, CA, USA
Pomona College, Claremont, CA, USA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, USA
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
Santa Cruz County Museum of Art, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
Scripps College, Claremont, CA, USA
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA, USA
Sheldon Memorial Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, USA
Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA, USA
Thoma Art Foundation, Santa Fe, NM, USA
University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, IA, USA
University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
University Art Museum, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
University of Redlands, Redlands, CA, USA
Utah Museum of Fine Arts, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT, USA
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
