Obituary: Vivian Berman, 88, of Lexington

Vivian Berman, a printmaker, who brought qualities of both peace and solitude to her landscapes and the world around her, passed away on December 31, 2016, surrounded by her family, at her home in Lexington, Massachusetts. She was 88.

Vivian was born Anita Vivian Mutchnik on August 28, 1928 in New York City and earned a BFA at Cooper Union in 1950. She worked first as a book jacket designer and calligrapher and later as a printmaker. She taught printmaking at the DeCordova Museum School from 1981-1996 and in her later life as a Docent at Harvard’s Fogg Art Museum. Her work has been exhibited in many competitive and invitational shows including Brooklyn Museum; City Museum, Hong Kong; Pratt Graphic Center; Haifa University, Israel; British Biennale, Bradford, England; and the Universities of Pennsylvania, North Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming.

Vivian served as President (1971-76) of the Boston Printmakers. She won a fellowship to the MacDowell Colony in 1981 and is listed in Who’s Who in American Art. Her work is included in the collections of the Library of Congress, the Fogg Museum at Harvard University, The Wiggins Collection at the Boston Public Library, DeCordova Museum, Pennsylvania Academy of Art, U.S. Information Agency, Dartmouth College, The Museum of Fine Arts, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and many other other public and private collections.
Of her own work Vivian said, “using images of sea, sky, and landforms, and working with an abstract and at times surreal sense of light and space, I try to convey a variety of moods. My prints are sometimes wide open, sometimes threatening and often just a place of peace and solitude to escape into.” In describing her art the Christian Science Monitor said that Ms. Berman “exhibits a sure sense of design in these stunning collagraphs….her prints have a majestic grandeur that seems to reflect the rhythms of the universe.”

Vivian was the matriarch of an extremely close-knit and extended family who spent the past 65 years with her husband and soulmate Samuel Berman. Together they raised four sons: Mark, David, Jonas and Michael, and adored their nine grandchildren, Noah, Lyn, Zachary, Nick, Maddie, Sasha, Samantha, Emma and Alana. Her nephew’s family, Suzie, Linc, Leah and Hannah Russin, were also part of her immediate family. Able to make everyone feel at home and special, Vivian cherished time with family and friends. She relished countless ocean sunsets at their home in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where she hosted family and friends from throughout the world. Vivian was one of the founding members of Five Fields, a unique community in Lexington, Massachusetts where they raised their family. An avid game player, Vivian loved to play cards and began each day with a high-stakes backgammon competition with Sam, where the loser agreed to make the bed, coffee and breakfast. Vivian was a political activist for progressive causes, such as civil rights, throughout her life while focusing her love on her family.

A memorial service is being planned, as is a scholarship fund to The Cooper Union School of Art.

Obituary and images submitted by Lowell General Hospital