Rosalie Chichester of Arlington Court: An Accomplished, Unexplored Amateur Photographer
Presentation Type
Presentation
Start Date
8-3-2025 2:20 PM
Description
Jess McKenzie, Collections & House Manager, Arlington Court, Devon, National Trust of England, Wales & Northern Ireland and Barbara Wood, Cultural Heritage Curator, South West Region, National Trust of England, Wales & Northern Ireland
Rosalie Chichester of Arlington Court: An Accomplished, Unexplored Amateur Photographer
This paper will share the story and work of Rosalie Chichester, a keen collector, traveller and skilful amateur photographer. If she is known at all it is likely to be as the donor of her estate to the National Trust of England, Wales & Northern Ireland. Her achievements as an accomplished and technically explorative photographer are often unrecognised and certainly underappreciated and underutilised.
Self-taught, her many albums demonstrate her trials with different exposures, lighting, composition and processes. Her work also covered a variety of subjects including still-life plant images, portraiture, landscapes, etc.
A number of untapped images have yet to be fully catalogued and researched by the National Trust. The variety of these and her assembly of 51 albums, clearly shows they are important to her, as are her wider collections including other photography. There are big ambitions at Arlington, focussed on landscape, ecology, and the development of the important picturesque landscape. We want Rosalie to be at the heart of the experience to be created for and with visitors and local communities. It is an opportunity for her personality and her passions to shine and for her skills and her place in photography from the late Victorian/Edwardian onwards to be recognised.
We have recently secured internal funding to conserve and digitise Rosalie’s photographic albums. Alongside this project, we will develop a programme of research, exhibition, and public engagement. We hope to reassess her place as a woman finding expression through an art form that required not only the creative understanding that might be expected of her sex and social position, but also required technical and scientific expertise. Including Chichester as part of this conference will be a valuable step in contextualising her achievements amidst a global perspective on women photographers, and we are keen to connect with colleagues engaged in similar work across this period.
Jess McKenzie is Collections & House Manager, Arlington Court, Devon, National Trust of England, Wales & Northern Ireland and Barbara Wood is the Cultural Heritage Curator, South West Region, National Trust of England, Wales & Northern Ireland.
Relational Format
Conference proceeding
Recommended Citation
McKenzie, Jess and Wood, Barbara, "Rosalie Chichester of Arlington Court: An Accomplished, Unexplored Amateur Photographer" (2025). Women of Photography: A 24-Hour Conference-a-thon Celebrating International Women’s Day 2025. 42.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/womenofphotography/2025/schedule/42
Rosalie Chichester of Arlington Court: An Accomplished, Unexplored Amateur Photographer
Jess McKenzie, Collections & House Manager, Arlington Court, Devon, National Trust of England, Wales & Northern Ireland and Barbara Wood, Cultural Heritage Curator, South West Region, National Trust of England, Wales & Northern Ireland
Rosalie Chichester of Arlington Court: An Accomplished, Unexplored Amateur Photographer
This paper will share the story and work of Rosalie Chichester, a keen collector, traveller and skilful amateur photographer. If she is known at all it is likely to be as the donor of her estate to the National Trust of England, Wales & Northern Ireland. Her achievements as an accomplished and technically explorative photographer are often unrecognised and certainly underappreciated and underutilised.
Self-taught, her many albums demonstrate her trials with different exposures, lighting, composition and processes. Her work also covered a variety of subjects including still-life plant images, portraiture, landscapes, etc.
A number of untapped images have yet to be fully catalogued and researched by the National Trust. The variety of these and her assembly of 51 albums, clearly shows they are important to her, as are her wider collections including other photography. There are big ambitions at Arlington, focussed on landscape, ecology, and the development of the important picturesque landscape. We want Rosalie to be at the heart of the experience to be created for and with visitors and local communities. It is an opportunity for her personality and her passions to shine and for her skills and her place in photography from the late Victorian/Edwardian onwards to be recognised.
We have recently secured internal funding to conserve and digitise Rosalie’s photographic albums. Alongside this project, we will develop a programme of research, exhibition, and public engagement. We hope to reassess her place as a woman finding expression through an art form that required not only the creative understanding that might be expected of her sex and social position, but also required technical and scientific expertise. Including Chichester as part of this conference will be a valuable step in contextualising her achievements amidst a global perspective on women photographers, and we are keen to connect with colleagues engaged in similar work across this period.
Jess McKenzie is Collections & House Manager, Arlington Court, Devon, National Trust of England, Wales & Northern Ireland and Barbara Wood is the Cultural Heritage Curator, South West Region, National Trust of England, Wales & Northern Ireland.
Comments
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