Julia Margaret Cameron
Permanent Exhibition
Julia Margaret Cameron (1815 – 1879) was one of the most important early photographers and is now recognised the world over as a pioneer of photography as art.
A woman ahead of her time, she was ambitious and freethinking when most Victorian women were passive and demure. She took on the challenges of handling large cameras and dangerous chemicals at a time when photography was known as ‘The Black Art’.
Ignoring conventions, she experimented with composition and focus. Today she is credited with creating the first photographic close-up portraits and influencing the subsequent Pictorialism movement with her use of diffused focus.
Her portraits of ‘famous men and fair women’, reflect her time within the Freshwater Circle, the birth of celebrity and her ambitions to be recognised as significant artist of her time.
The majority of her photographic work was created here at Dimbola. Her work is found in major archives the world over including our own growing Permanent Collection.
Solo Isle of Wight Festival Gallery
Permanent Exhibition
An exhibition focusing on the third and final of the original Isle of Wight Festivals held at Afton in 1970 within sight and sound of Dimbola and which saw Jimi Hendrix’s last major performance and his last in the UK.
The display includes rare posters and photographs of these legendary festivals. One photograph in particular is a panorama from Afton Down which gives an idea of the audience of 600,000 who gathered to watch Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Taste, Miles Davis and Joni Mitchell to name a few.
To compliment this there is a display of posters and images of the new IOW Festivals, revived by the leading music agency Solo in 2002, which have featured such artists as The Rolling Stone, David Bowie, REM and Paul McCartney.
Also showing: Chris Cudlip bronze head of Hendrix. Chris has a background in special effects working as a freelance figurative sculptor and prop maker in London working for companies as varied as English national Opera, Madame Tussauds and Pinewood Studios He is now pursuing a solo career from the Arches Studios complex based in Southampton where he available for public or private commissions of any size.
Outside Dimbola there is a small memorial garden with a statue of Jimi Hendrix designed by sculptor John Swindells. Have your picture taken next to Jimi and his guitar or breathe in the wonderful lavender ‘Purple Haze’ that grows in his garden (spring/summer) and enjoy the views down to Freshwater Bay.
