11 Facts About Sven Berlin

Sven Paul Berlin was an English painter, writer and sculptor.

Sven Berlin is best known for his controversial fictionalised autobiography The Dark Monarch, which was withdrawn just days after publication in 1962 following legal action.

Sven Berlin began research into the naive artist Alfred Wallis, and his book, the first profile to be written, was eventually published by Tambimuttu's Poetry London in 1949.

Sven Berlin later renounced his position as a conscientious objector after observing some distressing naval bombing in the English Channel and joined the Army, taking part in the D-Day landings as a Forward Observer in France, Holland and Belgium.

Sven Berlin was a member of the burgeoning artistic community around St Ives on his return and met a local girl, Jacqueline Moran, with whom he moved into a cottage provided by the writer Mabel Lethbridge.

Sven Berlin met his second wife, the artist Juanita Fisher in 1949 while living in a small concrete building next to Porthgwidden Beach, dubbed The Tower.

Sven Berlin completed his 7.5-ton Carrara marble bas-relief The White Buck in 1958; this was saved from demolition in 2015.

Sven Berlin was able to paint, carve, cast bronze in his own foundry and write, exhibiting at shows including in London at Arthur Tooth and Son, and appearing on television and in newspapers.

Sven Berlin was fascinated by the Romany culture and wildlife of the New Forest, realised in a series of mystical and philosophical stories Jonah's Dream: A Meditation on Fishing and the story of his journey from St Ives to the New Forest in a gypsy wagon, Dromengro, Man of the Road.

Sven Berlin met his third wife, Julia, 33 years his junior, and moved to the Isle of Wight in 1970, before finally settling near Wimborne in 1975.

Sven Berlin remained prolific in painting, writing and sculpture until his death at the age of 88.