Gershon Benjamin and Free Acres Centennial

July 30, 2010 — Lisa N. Peters
Back cover, "Free Acres Centennial Program," July 2010

Back cover, "Free Acres Centennial Program," July 2010

Lisa N. Peters

Benjamin home in Free Acres, 1950s, Gershon Benjamin Foundation Archives

Benjamin home in Free Acres, 1950s, Gershon Benjamin Foundation Archives

On the weekend of July 24-25, Free Acres in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, celebrated its centennial with events, projects, and activities that illuminated its unique history and character as a community with a strong spirit of democracy.  As part of its mission to document the participation of residents past and present, Free Acres borrowed an exhibition from Spanierman Gallery entitled Gershon Benjamin: Selected Works on Paper, presenting the work of an artist (b. 1899) who was a vital member of the community from the 1930s until his death in 1985.  Fittingly the show was held in the cottage and studio where Gershon and his actress wife Zelda resided, now belonging to the Gershon Benjamin Foundation, which in conjunction with the gallery represents Benjamin’s work. Read the rest of this entry »

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Gershon Benjamin – “Contemplation”, ca. 1929

April 20, 2010 — Spanierman Gallery, LLC

Ira Spanierman discusses recently rediscovered artist Gershon Benjamin (1899-1985).  In Contemplation, ca. 1929, Benjamin juxtaposes a small figure with a vast sea and rocky outcropping, giving an emotional quality to the abstract canvas. Benjamin, a close friend of the modernist painter Milton Avery, (1885-1965), probably painted Contemplation in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where both he and Avery were known to have painted in the summer.

Spanierman Gallery, LLC represents the estate of Gershon Benjamin. The 2008 retrospective exhibition, Over Seven Decades: The Art of Gershon Benjamin, at Spanierman Gallery, LLC was accompanied by a 144-page catalogue which features 130 color illustrations.

You might also like our other blog posts on Gershon Benjamin:
From the Archives: A Letter from Gershon Benjamin
Gershon Benjamin, “Woman Reading”

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Gershon Benjamin, “Woman Reading”

March 4, 2010 — Lisa N. Peters
Gershon Benjamin, "Woman Reading," ca. 1950, gouache on paper, 18 x 24 inches

Gershon Benjamin, "Woman Reading," ca. 1950, gouache on paper, 18 x 24 inches

Lisa N. Peters

A few years ago, the gallery began to handle the estate of a little-known artist named Gershon Benjamin (1899-1985).  One day we learned that Benjamin’s archives would be coming our way, courtesy of the estate’s executor, but we could not have imagined what we would receive: nine full boxes of untouched papers, photographs, letters, exhibition catalogues, and other memorabilia.  Before the boxes arrived, we knew that Benjamin had a connection with Milton Avery (1885-1965), but as we went through the papers we discovered that this association was far more significant and enduring than we had imagined.  Benjamin painted and drew Milton and his wife Sally frequently, and Avery created a number of portraits of Benjamin.  Photographs of the two artists together (along with their wives), letters, and shows in which both took part emerged, along with many references to their mutual friends, including Mark Rothko and Adolph Gottlieb. Our 2008 exhibition, Over Seven Decades: The Art of Gershon Benjamin explored many of these connections. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in About the Artist, Notable Paintings. Tags: , . 1 Comment »

Notable Pictures, Inspiring Chairs

November 3, 2009 — Spanierman Gallery, LLC
Katherine Bogden
I’m an avid reader, and because sometimes I find the couch a little too comfortable I’ve been daydreaming about purchasing a modest chair, which I think is just what I need to keep my eyes on the page.

Until this week, I had been ogling chairs in decorator’s magazines, store displays, and those quick glimpses through the windows of the handsomely decorated brownstones of my Brooklyn neighborhood.

And then, I found myself  jealously eyeing the chairs in some of the paintings in the gallery’s collection. Here are a few I’ve noticed:

Nicolai Cikovsky, Flowers on a Chair
(oil on canvas, 30 x 24 inches)

The blue-green chair in this picture expresses the painting’s simple and homey ambiance. Its  square legs and flat seat, which hold a vase of wildflowers, suggest stability. The touches of green throughout the picture, coupled with the portrait on the far wall, create a sense of life even without a human presence. The color of the chair draws in the those of the lush growth outside the window. Like the overall simplicity of the composition, the plainness of the wooden chair appeals to me, and its hard, straight back would certainly help me stay awake when reading. Read the rest of this entry »
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From the Archives: A Letter from Gershon Benjamin

October 22, 2009 — Spanierman Gallery, LLC
Katherine Bogden
Back in 2007-8 I had the great pleasure of assisting with the exhibition and catalogue for Over Seven Decades: The Art of Gershon Benjamin.
From a research standpoint, this was no small undertaking. Benjamin and his wife Zelda left behind no less than nine boxes of (previously unsorted) archive materials, which included everything from reviews clipped from newspapers and magazines to personal letters, professional correspondence, photographs, sketches, award certificates, legal paperwork—and the list goes on.

Although sorting and organizing this material was a tremendous amount of work it was also immensely rewarding. Besides helping us trace Benjamin’s steps from his time in Canada through his New York years and up until his death in Free Acres, New Jersey in 1985, these documents helped answer our more abstract questions: what went on in the mind of the artist, beyond the brush?

Benjamin’s letters read like windows through the canvas, giving both tangible evidence of his inspirations (such as the Greek sculptures he discusses below) and what he was after in his work—in Benjamin’s case he was always trying to capture the essence of the object (or as you’ll read in his letter, the “soul”).
I found the letters between Benjamin and Zelda particularly interesting for a number of reasons:
Posted in About the Artist, From the Archives. Tags: , . 3 Comments »
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