Friday 6th June 2011 to Saturday 20th August 2011

Poets Cornered is a set of 10 cartoons celebrating the extraordinary wealth of literary talent that descended on the Island in the 19th century.

Of all periods in our past, Victoria’s reign is one that holds especial fascination. It was an era that saw change and achievement on an unprecedented scale.

At its beginning, life progressed at walking pace and at a human level in patterns of rural living largely unchanged for two thousand years. By its end, this country had been transformed by industrialisation, mechanisation and urbanisation.

Almost every invention and discovery that comes to mind can be traced back to the last quarter of the 19th century; these sowed the seeds of fundamental change in attitude and belief.

A small maritime nation, ahead of the rest in industrial development, Britain took on a pre-eminent role in the world.

Seeking a family retreat away from the pressures, Victoria settled on the Isle of Wight – Tennyson likewise and all the world followed.

Princes and emperors flocked to Osborne; Marx and Turgenev came to Ventnor and anyone who was anyone in literary or artistic circles beat a path to Freshwater. Scientists, thinkers, artists, writers, the lot. The Island must have seemed like the centre of the world.

The latter part of Victoria’s reign tantalises because it is so near and yet so very far from us today.

While the 20th century is part of an ongoing process, alive in all our minds, that which preceded it now belongs firmly to the past and beyond living memory. And yet the 19th century is still very much with us, its buildings, institutions and discoveries shaping our lives today.

Nothing expresses better the startling proximity of Victorian lives than the invention of photography. The Victorian era was the first to be captured on camera – and how!

Julia Margaret Cameron was a force to be reckoned with. No shrinking violet, Tennyson’s well-connected and unstoppable neighbour set tongues wagging in West Wight for years to come with escapades that repay further reading.

But the dreamy images she created at Dimbola belong to great art. From local village girls to visiting literary lions, those with interesting faces were bundled into the studio to be immortalised as icons of their age.

One thing Julia Margaret Cameron could not capture: the sheer fun of it all. Exposures were long (up to seven minutes) and absolute stillness required, with camera sometimes only two feet off. Only Charles Hay Cameron, Julia’s long-suffering husband, failed to oblige.

With his flowing mane of white hair and beard, the eminent jurist was invariably cast as Merlin, but frequently unable to hold his pose before the shot was done. Sat in a stage-prop of hollowed oak tree, he would start to corpse and collapse in giggles. This small exhibition hopes to capture a little of that enjoyment.

Best-known locally for postcards, bus timetable covers and a weekly slot in the County Press, Rupert Besley has worked full-time as freelance cartoonist on the Island for more than 30 years. Much of that time has been spent in illustrating books, including a dozen of his own.

His work has appeared in publications such as Punch, The Oldie and Country Life. He is a member of the Cartoonists’ Club, the Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation and the Federation of European Cartoonists’ Organisation.