Vera Berdich (1915 – October 12, 2003) was an American printmaker.

Life

Berdich worked for the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

Hull House Hull House was a settlement house in Chicago, Illinois, United States that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located on the Near West Side of the city, Hull House (named after the original house's first owner Cha ...

. She graduated from the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...

with a B.A. in 1946 and taught etching there from 1947 to 1979. She was an influence on the

Chicago Imagists The Chicago Imagists are a group of representational artists associated with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago who exhibited at the Hyde Park Art Center in the late 1960s. Their work was known for grotesquerie, Surrealism and complete ind ...

group. Berdich's papers are held at the

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washingt ...

. She was also known under the names Veronica Berdich, Veronika Berdich and Veronica Berdick.Vera Berdich
Illinois Women Artists Project, online at Internet Archive

Collections

Berdich's works are held in the collections of the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, the

Seattle Art Museum The Seattle Art Museum (commonly known as SAM) is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington, United States. It operates three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) in Volunteer Park on Cap ...

, the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Exhibitions

*1995 "The Unquiet Eye: Vera Berdich, A Retrospective."

Chicago Cultural Center The Chicago Cultural Center, opened in 1897, is a Chicago Landmark building operated by Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events that houses the city's official reception venue where the Mayor of Chicago has welcomed presid ...

*2008 "Twilight Shadows", Printworks Gallery *2010 "Chicago Stories: Prints and H. C. Westermann—See America First", Art Institute of Chicago *2010 "On & Of Paper: Selections from the Illinois State Museum Collection", Illinois State Museum Chicago GalleryVera Berdich
at Artslant

References

External links

*http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/artist/2554 *http://www.printworkschicago.com/artists/berdich/berdich.htm *http://www.askart.com/askart/b/vera_berdich/vera_berdich.aspx {{DEFAULTSORT:Berdich, Vera 1915 births American printmakers 2003 deaths American women printmakers 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American women