Author Description

In late August 1970 Hamburg photographer Simone Bergmann travelled to the Isle of Wight?an island in the English Channel just off the coast of Great Britain - for the famous rock festival, which was attended by over 600,000 visitors. Later styled the European Woodstock, the Isle of Wight Festival featured The Doors, The Who, Miles Davis, Leonard Cohen, Jimi Hendrix, and Supertramp. The festival was periodically disrupted by spectators from?Desolation Row,? the area immediately behind the screen of double fencing, who demanded that the event be declared a free festival with free admission. 0It was not until the last day that the organizers yielded to the pressure. 0Bergmann photographed this conflict, while also capturing the unique and?to our eyes?almost anachronistic moment of?public happiness,? as Hannah Arendt called it. The photographer?s images of the Isle of Wight Festival are published here in book form for the first time.0Simone Bergmann is a photographer, author, and filmmaker. She lives in Hamburg. From 1968 to 1981 she worked as fashion editor for Stern magazine. Many of the publications she produced as a stylist working with photographers like Helmut Newton, Jeanloup Sieff, and Peter Lindbergh were awarded prizes by the Art Directors Club.