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Eugene Berman

Russian, 1899 - 1972

BiographyEugène Berman (Russian: Евгений Густавович Берман; Evgeny Gustavovich Berman November 4, 1899, Moscow - December 14, 1972) and his brother Leonid Berman were Russian Neo-romantic painters and theater and opera designers. Born in Russia, they fled the Russian revolution in 1918. In Paris the Bermans exhibited at the Galerie Pierre where their work earned them the name "Neo-Romantics" for its melancholy and introspective qualities, having taken inspiration from the Blue Period paintings of Picasso. Other Neo-Romantic painters were Christian Berard, Pavel Tchelitchev, Kristians Tonny and, later in America, their friend Muriel Streeter (wife of their art dealer Julien Levy).
Eugène's work was characterized by lonely landscapes featuring sculptural and architectural elements, often ruins, rendered in a neo-classical manner, whereas that of Leonid depicted beaches with fisherman's boats and nets in many parts of the world. In 1935 Eugène left for New York where he exhibited frequently at the Julien Levy Gallery (as did Leonid after the war). Later, in the 1940s, Eugène settled in Los Angeles and married the actress Ona Munson, while Leonid remained in New York and married the harpsichordist Sylvia Marlowe. In America, Eugène became well known as a stage designer for ballet and opera. Following the suicide of his wife in 1955, he moved to Rome where Princess Doria-Pamphilj provided an apartment and studio for him in a wing of her palazzo on the via del Corso. He continued to paint there until his death in 1972. Leonid died in New York in 1976.

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