“La Tentation de saint Antoine”, ink drawing, 1945

Pen and ink on paper, depicting Saint Anthony kneeling in prayer, assailed by apparitions
Titled “La Tentation de St Antoine” lower left, monogrammed “EB” in an oval and dated 19(45) lower right

Biographical notes
Born in Saint Petersburg in 1899, Eugène Berman left Russia after the Revolution and settled in Paris. With his brother Léonid, Christian Bérard and Pavel Tchelitchew, he formed the Neo-Romantic group, in reaction to abstraction and Cubism. Having left for the United States in 1935, he became one of the great theatre designers of his time, for ballet as well as opera, notably at the Metropolitan Opera. His pen drawings, peopled with ruins, draped figures and baroque visions, are the most intimate part of his work. Having settled in Rome at the end of his life, he died there in 1972.