Benjamin F. Berlin

Born in Washington D.C. in 1887 and later moving to Los Angeles in 1914, Benjamin F. Berlin was an early Los Angeles modernist who transitioned from portrait painting to cubism and abstraction in the 1920s. He studied at Cannon Art School and briefly at a school run by John H. Rich and William V. Cahill. Berlin’s work, influenced by his time in the motion picture industry and his association with other artists, became increasingly abstract, culminating in his participation in the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project.

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Despite his contributions to the modernist movement and his participation in significant exhibitions, little is known about Berlin's life outside of his artistic career, making him a somewhat mysterious figure in the art world.

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