Artist Biography
Sylva Bernt was an Italian sculptor and designer born in Gorizia, near Trieste, in 1910 and died in 1995. A rare and highly acclaimed artist, she made a name for herself through her work and public commissions both in Italy and in France, where she settled around 1950.
She took on her first French commissions in 1952, following her meeting with André Arbus at the home of the painter Guido Cadorin in Venice. At the decorator's invitation, she participated in the construction of the ocean liner Bretagne, creating a large stone altar for the ship's chapel. This first collaboration marked the beginning of a close and fruitful relationship between the two artists.
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Sylva Bernt created her studio on Avenue du Maine in Paris and, while continuing her personal work, became Arbus's practitioner, for whom she produced decorative elements that he incorporated into his furniture designs.
They worked together on a number of projects, ranging from major official commissions such as the decoration of the transatlantic liners *Viêt Nam* (1952) and *Pasteur* (1961), to private commissions such as the construction of the Jean-Marie Terrin villa in Aix-en-Provence (1955).
She distinguished herself by creating monumental panels in pink Chassagne breccia stone, with decorations generally inspired by ancient myths and treated in the manner of neo-Assyrian bas-reliefs. Sylva Bernt's ancient inspiration has led to some of the best modern interpretations of Greco-Roman myths.
With a perfect knowledge of ancient statuary, she renewed its representation in marble, limestone, lead, plaster, clay and bronze. The *Centaur*, dated 1961, is part of this major ensemble that spanned her entire life as an artist. Her ink drawings bear witness to the fluidity and spontaneity of her style.
In 1955, she designed a long frieze, the frieze of the Viking epic for the Grand Salon of the Palais des Consuls at the Rouen Chamber of Commerce.
