Poetry of Matter

The article opens with a quotation from Baudelaire to introduce Berberi's relationship with his material. The text traces his training: winner of the competition run by the Ministry of National Education and Fine Arts, he obtained a scholarship to the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris (ENSBA), where he won the first prize for foreign sculpture, then the Sursock Museum Prize (1968), the Rotary Prize (1970) and the Saïd Akl Prize (1973). A box-out details commissions: the bust of President Fouad Chéhab at Ghazir (1974), that of Sheikh Béchara El-Khoury at Aoukar (1973), the monument to Lieutenant Samir Chartouni, a « Demande de la paix (Plea for Peace) » at Meyrouba, and a Saint Charbel made in 1981. Three sculptures are reproduced: « Le Pianiste (The Pianist) », « Ballerine (Ballerina) » and « L'Arrivée des héros (The Arrival of the Heroes) ». The article concludes: « Matter... with him, it becomes poetry. Thanks to him, it expresses itself. »