Sven Berlin 'Mrs Hughes smoking a swiggler' 1954

Sven Berlin (British 1911 – 1999) born in London, he was an English painter, writer and sculptor. Exhibiting paintings, drawings and sculpture regularly with the St. Ives Society of Artists and in London. Berlin was a founding member of the Crypt Group of modern-minded young artists, along with Peter Lanyon, John Wells and Bryan Wynter, and of the Penwith Society of Arts. He is also known for his controversial fictionalised autobiography The Dark Monarch, which was withdrawn just days after publication in 1962 following legal action. The book became the theme of an exhibition in Tate St Ives in autumn 2009 when it was re-published.