Sven Berlin was certainly an eclectic artist and sculptor. The book shown, which he wrote in his twilight years, gives an interesting overview of this abstract man who settled in St Ives, Cornwall shortly before the Second World War. Most individuals who come across Sven Berlin, are interested in his book 'Dark Monarch' which upset a lot of people and was ordered to be destroyed back around 1962, but was in fact, republished in 2009. The St Ives Tate did an exhibition around 2010, based on Dark Monarch, which was well publicised, but I think it took away the mystery of the work.
I have at last come across some brilliant material showing the much darker side of this South West area of Cornwall. I just knew it wasn't all cream teas, seagulls, sand and holiday homes! I have been digging for quite some time now and have begun to get hold of what I was looking for. The 'Monarch' bit reminded me of the Monarch and Bluebird programming undertaken by the CIA in the early 60's. It is really meant to be the area Sven Berlin lived in during his time in Cornwall. The dark underbelly of the picture postcard come to life.
Pippin decided to have a Sven Berlin style portrait done too, incidentally.
