The Flirt of Time 1949

Vera Berdich created this etching, titled "The Flirt of Time," using traditional printmaking techniques to explore themes of memory, history, and identity. The collage-like composition of the image presents us with a series of overlapping motifs and visual cues, inviting a meditation on time itself. Berdich was born in what is now the Czech Republic and came to the United States in 1947, so we might understand this as a work that comments on the artist's own displaced sense of cultural identity in postwar America. We see images of a young woman in period costume, flora and fauna, and religious iconography reminiscent of the Old World, all fragmented and juxtaposed with the artist's own face. Do they represent an archive of things remembered? As art historians, we rely on documentary evidence such as letters and diaries to explore artists' lives and unpack the meaning of their work. Berdich's prints offer a powerful example of how personal history and social context intersect in a single image.