Merrill C. Berman
Merrill C. Berman (born 1938) is a New York-based art collector. Over almost fifty years, Berman has built a major collection of early 20th century Russian and European art and graphic design. According to Linda Shearer, former Director of the Williams College Museum of Art, and Dianne H. Pilgrim, former Director of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, “The Merrill C. Berman Collection represents an exemplary effort to collect printed ephemera with an eye for both its aesthetic and its social significance. The collection is replete with masterpieces of graphic design created by some of the most influential artists of the [twentieth] century as well as with pieces by unknown designers whose work has been rescued from oblivion by Merrill Berman’s keen eye.”

In addition to deep early 20th century holdings by well-known artists such as Hannah Höch, El Lissitzky, and Aleksandr Rodchenko, Berman has also long collected the work of less familiar members of the avant-garde, as well as cause-oriented material. “Merrill C. Berman may be the most important collector you never heard of,” notes art historian Jane Kallir.

In 2017, The Museum of Modern Art, New York made a "transformative" acquisition from the Merrill C. Berman Collection, comprising over 300 early 20th century works. An exhibition based on the acquisition, "Engineer, Agitator, Constructor: The Artist Reinvented," was on view from December 13, 2020 to April 10, 2021. A major catalogue was published.
Q12072937
Williams College Museum of Art
LOC
Q1129820
Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum
LOC
Q463411
Hannah Höch
PER
Q152233
El Lissitzky
PER
Q312631
Aleksandr Rodchenko
PER
Q42592553
Jane Kallir
PER
Q188740
Museum of Modern Art
LOC
Q99670565
Merrill C. Berman
PER
Q99670565
Merrill C. Berman
PER
Q99670565
Merrill C. Berman
PER
Q99670565
Merrill C. Berman
PER
1938-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1938
DATE
2017-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2017
DATE
2020-12-13T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
December 13, 2020
DATE
2021-04-10T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
April 10, 2021
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20
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20
NUMBER
+20^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
20
NUMBER
date of birth