Philadelphia Modernist Painter RUTH E. BERGER (1915-1944) O/C Abstract Figurative

Strange but curious painting by Philadelphia Modernist painter Ruth E. (Euster) Berger. Born in Wilmington, DE in 1915 Berger lived most of her adult life in Philadelphia where she settled in Chestnut Hill, one of the toniest neighborhoods in the city. This oil on canvas, which measures 22"h x 24"w depicts a (possibly pregnant) woman in a white skin type top in the foreground leaning back on a chair, either asleep or dead. There appears to be a snake slithering across her belly. Behind her a man reminiscent of The Thinker or Atlas holding the world sits with his head bowed.

The painting is in very good original condition with no losses. It is unframed and initialed REB lower right. The painting does not extend to the edges of the canvas and therefore there are a couple of small areas left unpainted along the right edge. The stretcher is stamped on the back THE LITTLE GALLERY, East Newark, NJ, an important Modernist gallery at the time which also showed the works of Claude Clark, Harry Jackson, and Julius Kramer.

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