Eugène Berman (1899-1972)

Eugène BERMAN (1899-1972) "Paludia" Oil on canvas signed with the artist's monogram lower center. Countersigned on the back with the monogram and noted "1967-Roma-1968", titled "Paludia". Exhibition label on the back from Galerie Lucie Weil and annotations from Galerie Forni in Bologna. Size: 67 cm X 54 cm Bibliography: Galerie Lucie Weill, Les Néo-romantiques: Christian Bérard , Léonid et Eugène Berman, Pavel Tchelitchew, Paris, 1971. Rare Troubadour-style papier-mâché frame circa 1840. Wikipedia biography: Eugène Berman, born November 4, 1899 in St. Petersburg, and died December 14, 1972 in Rome or New York, was a Russian-born American painter and theater decorator. Eugène Berman was born on November 4, 1899 in Saint Petersburg2. He is the brother of Léonide Berman3. According to Bowlt in Grove Art Online, his family moved to Western Europe in 1908 and his basic training was in Germany, Switzerland and France (with the exception of a brief residence in St. Petersburg in 1914-18, when he received art lessons from painter Pavel Naumov and architect Sergey Gruzenberg). According to the Dictionary of Painting, he left Russia in 1918 to study in Paris at the Académie Ranson under Maurice Denis and Édouard Vuillard, but his painting was largely influenced by De Chirico and Picasso. Between 1923 and 19273, he exhibited his work, notably portraits and landscapes, at the Salons d'Automne and des Tuileries. Together with his brother, he promoted a form of poetic art3. In 1935, he emigrated to the United States. He worked as a theater decorator, producing allegorical works3. He became an American citizen in 19376. He died on December 14, 1972 in Rome or New York. With an important collection of pottery, statuettes, sculptures, glassware, fabrics and carpets of pre-Columbian, African, New Guinea, British Columbia, Egyptian, Coptic, Greek, Etruscan and Roman origin, as well as 16th and 17th century furniture from Italy and Latin America, and paintings by artist friends (Mirko, Ernst, Cagli, Cremoni), he built up a large "cabinet of curiosities" in a Roman apartment - which he had to enlarge - on the top floor of a palace near the Piazza del Popolo.