A piece of good news in this strange uncertain world – earlier this month an old fisherman’s cottage on the beach at Dungeness was saved for posterity, amazingly the sum of £3,635,957 raised with the support of 8,307 supporters to acquire the cottage and establish funding for an ongoing future programme of activities and events.
The old 19th century cottage, which perhaps doesn’t look much for the outside, is in fact a unique piece of modern British history, having been adapted as the home and creative base of the filmmaker, artist and activist Derek Jarman, one of the heroes of the modern British film industry, famous for films such as Caravaggio Edward II and Wittgenstein.
When Jarman died in 1994, he left Prospect Cottage to Keith Collins who himself died in 2018 and the house and its contents were saved through a campaign organised by the Art Fund, the Tate and Creative Folkstone in the nick of time with its sale planned for March 31st, with the support of an impressive list of figures from the world of art and film.
As part of the fundraising, Phillips held an on-line auction in March of Sandy Powell’s suit signed by hundreds of film stars including Robert De Niro, Brad Pitt, Al Pacino, Scarlett Johansson and Renee Zellweger.