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Totem Group IV
1957
40 x 50 in. (101.6 x 127 cm)
Karl Benjamin (Chicago, Illinois, 1925 - 2012, Claremont, California)
Local Color, July 26, 2012 - January 13, 2013, New Wing, Second Floor, Central Skylight and South Metro A Galleries, San José Museum of Art.
New Year, New Gifts, December 16, 2006 – May 20. 2007, New Wing, Second Floor, North and South Metro A Galleries, San José Museum of Art.
It's About Time: Celebrating 35 Years, October 3, 2004 - February 13, 2005, New Wing, Gibson Family Gallery and Plaza Gallery, First Floor, San José Museum of Art.
Local Color (2012-2013)
Totem Group IV is exemplary of Karl Benjamin’s work from the late 1950s. He used a limited palette of blues, reds, and black to create an energetic composition of jagged shapes that interlock like pieces of a puzzle. Benjamin carefully orchestrated his hues to emphasize and define his shapes while maintaining overall coherence within the work. The work exemplifies the artist’s belief that “color is the subject matter of painting. Regardless of style or content, it is the material from which paintings are made.”
It's About Time: Celebrating 35 Years (2004-2005)
Karl Benjamin was an important figure in the development of hard-edge abstraction in the 1960s and a forerunner of Op Art. His work emphasizes geometric shapes and stark edges, which tend to undulate with optical illusions. In Totem Group IV, the artist uses a limited palette of blues, reds, and black to create an energetic composition of jagged edges that interlock seamlessly like pieces of a puzzle. A skilled colorist, Benjamin carefully orchestrates his hues in order to define shapes and to create visual harmony.
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Totem Group IV
Painting
195740 x 50 in. (101.6 x 127 cm)
Karl Benjamin (Chicago, Illinois, 1925 - 2012, Claremont, California)
Object Type: Painting
Medium and Support: Oil on canvas
Credit Line: Museum purchase with funds contributed by the Oshman Family Foundation, in honor of the San Jose Museum of Art's 35th anniversary
Accession Number: 2004.17
Exhibition
Break + Bleed, June 4, 2021 - April 3, 2022, Gibson and Plaza Galleries, San José Museum of Art. Local Color, July 26, 2012 - January 13, 2013, New Wing, Second Floor, Central Skylight and South Metro A Galleries, San José Museum of Art.
New Year, New Gifts, December 16, 2006 – May 20. 2007, New Wing, Second Floor, North and South Metro A Galleries, San José Museum of Art.
It's About Time: Celebrating 35 Years, October 3, 2004 - February 13, 2005, New Wing, Gibson Family Gallery and Plaza Gallery, First Floor, San José Museum of Art.
SJMA Label Text
Local Color (2012-2013)
Totem Group IV is exemplary of Karl Benjamin’s work from the late 1950s. He used a limited palette of blues, reds, and black to create an energetic composition of jagged shapes that interlock like pieces of a puzzle. Benjamin carefully orchestrated his hues to emphasize and define his shapes while maintaining overall coherence within the work. The work exemplifies the artist’s belief that “color is the subject matter of painting. Regardless of style or content, it is the material from which paintings are made.”
It's About Time: Celebrating 35 Years (2004-2005)
Karl Benjamin was an important figure in the development of hard-edge abstraction in the 1960s and a forerunner of Op Art. His work emphasizes geometric shapes and stark edges, which tend to undulate with optical illusions. In Totem Group IV, the artist uses a limited palette of blues, reds, and black to create an energetic composition of jagged edges that interlock seamlessly like pieces of a puzzle. A skilled colorist, Benjamin carefully orchestrates his hues in order to define shapes and to create visual harmony.
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Exhibition List
This object was included in the following exhibitions: - New Year, New Gifts San Jose Museum of Art , 12/16/2006 - 2/18/2000
Dimensions
- Image Dimensions: 40 x 50 in. (101.6 x 127 cm)
Bibliography List
This object has the following bibliographic references: - Birth of the Cool: California Art, Desigm, and Culture at Midcentury. Birth of the Cool: California Art, Desigm, and Culture at Midcentury Orange County Museum of Art, Prestel Publishing. Newport Beach, CA, 2007
Page Number: 98
Portfolio List Click a portfolio name to view all the objects in that portfolio
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