Biography
Berenice Sydney was born in Esher, Surrey in 1944 and educated from the age of six at the Lycée Français de Londres. From her early years she studied ballet with Marie Rambert and classical guitar with Adele Kramer. As an adult she balanced a rigorous work schedule in her studio by training at the Dance Centre in Covent Garden and attending flamenco dance studios in Hampstead and New York City.
In 1963 she met the photographer Romano Cagnoni who she then married in 1970.
In addition to reading the classics and studying mythology she was fluent in five languages. She was enrolled at the Central School of Art and Design, but left formal art education to set up a studio in Chelsea.
She participated in over 40 exhibitions before her death of an asthma attack at the age of 37. She is buried in Highgate Cemetery with her father the documentary filmmaker, Joseph Sydney Frieze. Lord McAlpine gave the eulogy at her funeral also attended by Dr. David Brown then the Assistant Keeper in Modern Collections at the Tate Gallery.
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