Nationality American | Movement Regionalism | |
Born January 6, 1911 ( 1911-01-06 ) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. Known for Painter, graphic artist, designer, screenprinter, lithographer, teacher Died 1988, New York City, New York, United States Education School of the Art Institute of Chicago | ||
Bernece Berkman (1911–1988), known as Bernece Berkman-Hunter after marriage, was an American painter born in Chicago, Illinois. She was inspired by what she saw in urban Chicago during the Great Depression and is best known for paintings depicting the plight of industrial workers and the poor.
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Life and career
She took evening sketching classes in Todros Geller's studio and studied oil painting with Geller. Rudolph Weisenborn was another early influence. Working with both of these artists Berkman was introduced to Cubism and Expressionism and her work became more political in nature. She also studied briefly in New York at Hunter College and at The New School for Social Research under Stuart Davis.
In 1934 Berkman's work was exhibited for the first time in a group show of Jewish artists at the Palmer House in Chicago. In 1939 she exhibited a painting at the New York World’s Fair.
She married Oscar H. Hunter, an African-American writer, in 1946. Together they founded a wallpaper company, Berk-Hunter Associates, in 1949. They divorced in 1976.
In 1972 she traveled to France and Italy. Her travel diary is housed at the Library of Congress.
She was an active member of the artist community in Chicago and New York and belonged to the Chicago Society of Artists and the Chicago Women's Salon.