NEW YORK, NY.- The Cape Ann Museum will present Gershon Benjamin (1899 – 1985) and His Contemporaries. The exhibition will be on view from November 8 through January 31, 2009.

Gershon Benjamin moved from Montreal to New York during the early 1920s with the intention of achieving serious recognition as an artist. Working by nights in the art department of the Sun, Benjamin enrolled at the Arts Student League, Cooper Union, and the Educational Alliance Art School. In 1925, Milton Avery arrived in New York, and Benjamin soon became part of a circle of artists that included Avery, Wallace Putnam, Mark Rothko and Adolph Gottlieb.

It was during the early 1930s that several of these artists, including Benjamin, joined Avery and his wife Sally Michel in Gloucester to paint during the summers. For these artists, whose year-round homes and studios were in New York City, Gloucester represented not only an inspiring place to work, but a respite from the City.

The exhibition includes paintings by Benjamin completed during his time in Gloucester, and a small selection of works which span his entire career. There will also be a group of Benjamin’s portraits of fellow artists, as well as a selection of their paintings. These associated artists include Milton Avery and his wife Sally Michel, Adolph Gottlieb, Mark Rothko and Thomas Nagai.

The majority of the paintings in Gershon Benjamin (1899 – 1985) & His Contemporaries are on loan from the Gershon Benjamin Foundation, Inc. which is devoted to introducing new audiences to the works of Benjamin, to placing his works in collections where they can be seen and appreciated by the public, and to providing financial support to mid-to-late career artists.

Gershon Benjamin (1899 – 1985) & His Contemporaries opens on Saturday, November 8 with a public reception from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.

Lisa N. Peters, Ph.D. of the Spanierman Gallery in New York will present a lecture entitled Gershon Benjamin and the Spirit of Gloucester in the 1930s on Saturday, December 6 at 3:00 p.m. A full-color catalogue with an essay by Lisa Peters accompanies the exhibition and is available in the Museum shop.