Cecil Beaton | |
|---|---|
_%25E2%2580%2593_National_Portrait_Gallery_(unframed).jpg) Beaton in 1928 | |
| Born | Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton (1904-01-14)14 January 1904 Hampstead, London |
| Died | 18 January 1980(1980-01-18) (aged 76) |
| Resting place | All Saints' church graveyard, Broad Chalke, Wiltshire, England |
| Education | Heath Mount School St Cyprian's School Harrow School St John's College, Cambridge |
| Occupations |
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| Relatives | Baba Beaton (sister) Nancy Beaton (sister) |
Sir Cecil Walter Hardy BeatonCBE (14 January 1904 – 18 January 1980) was a British fashion, portrait and war photographer,diarist, painter, and interior designer, as well ascostume designer andset designer for stage and screen. His accolades include threeAcademy Awards and fourTony Awards.
Beaton was born on 14 January 1904 inHampstead, north London,[1] the son of Ernest Walter Hardy Beaton (1867–1936), a prosperoustimber merchant, and his wife, Esther "Etty" Sisson (1872–1962). His grandfather, Walter Hardy Beaton (1841–1904), had founded the family business of "Beaton Brothers Timber Merchants and Agents", and his father followed into the business. Ernest Beaton was an amateur actor and met his wife, Cecil's mother Esther ("Etty") when playing the lead in a play. She was the daughter of a Cumbrianblacksmith named Joseph Sisson and had come to London to visit her married sister.[2]
Ernest and Etty Beaton had four children – Cecil; two daughters,Nancy Elizabeth Louise Beaton (1909–99, who marriedSir Hugh Smiley, Bt.) andBarbara Jessica Beaton (1912–73, known as Baba, who married Alec Hambro); and one son, Reginald Ernest Hardy Beaton (1905–33).
Cecil Beaton was educated atHeath Mount School (where he was bullied byEvelyn Waugh) andSt Cyprian's School,Eastbourne, where his artistic talent was quickly recognised. BothCyril Connolly andHenry Longhurst report in theirautobiographies being overwhelmed by the beauty of Beaton's singing at the St Cyprian's school concerts.[3][4]
When Beaton was growing up, hisnanny had aKodak 3A Camera, a popular model which was renowned for being an ideal piece of equipment to learn on. Beaton's nanny began teaching him the basics of photography and developing film. He would often get his sisters and mother to sit for him. When he was sufficiently proficient, he would send the photos off to London society magazines, often writing under a pen name and "recommending" the work of Beaton.[5]
Beaton attendedHarrow School, and then, despite having little or no interest in academia, moved on toSt John's College,Cambridge, and studied history, art and architecture. Beaton continued his photography and, through his university contacts, got a portrait depicting theDuchess of Malfi published inVogue. It was actuallyGeorge "Dadie" Rylands – "a slightly out-of-focus snapshot of him as Webster's Duchess of Malfi standing in the sub-aqueous light outside the men's lavatory of theADC Theatre at Cambridge."[6] Beaton left Cambridge without a degree in 1925.
After a short time in the family timber business, he worked with a cement merchant inHolborn. This resulted in "an orgy of photography at weekends" so he decided to strike out on his own.[7] Under the patronage ofOsbert Sitwell he put on his first exhibition in the Cooling Gallery, London. It caused quite a stir.
Believing that he would meet with greater success on the other side of the Atlantic, he left for New York and slowly built up a reputation there. By the time he left, he had "a contract withCondé Nast Publications to take photographs exclusively for them for several thousand pounds a year for several years to come."[8]
From 1930 to 1945, Beaton leasedAshcombe House in Wiltshire,[9] where he entertained many notable figures.[citation needed][10]
In 1947, he boughtReddish House, set in 2.5 acres of gardens, approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) to the east inBroad Chalke. Here he transformed the interior, adding rooms on the eastern side, extending the parlour southwards, and introducing many new fittings.Greta Garbo was a visitor.[11] He remained at the house until his death in 1980 and is buried in the parish church graveyard.[12][13][14]
Beaton designed book jackets (seeCatherine Ives), and costumes for charity matinees, learning the craft of photography at the studio ofPaul Tanqueray, untilVogue took him on regularly in 1927.[15] He set up his own studio, and one of his earliest clients and, later, best friends wasStephen Tennant. Beaton's photographs of Tennant and his circle are considered some of the best representations of theBright Young People of the twenties and thirties.
Beaton's first camera was aBox Brownie .[16] Over the course of his career, he employed bothlarge format cameras, and smallerRolleiflex cameras. Beaton was never known as a highly skilled technical photographer, and instead focused on staging a compelling model or scene and looking for the perfect shutter-release moment.
He was a photographer for theBritish edition ofVogue in 1931 whenGeorge Hoyningen-Huene, photographer for theFrenchVogue travelled to England with his new friendHorst. Horst himself would begin to work for FrenchVogue in November of that year. The exchange and cross pollination of ideas between this collegial circle of artists across theChannel and the Atlantic gave rise to the look of style and sophistication for which the 1930s are known.[17]
Beaton is known for his fashion photographs and society portraits. He worked as a staff photographer forVanity Fair andVogue in addition to photographing celebrities in Hollywood. In 1938, he inserted some tiny-but-still-legibleanti-Semitic phrases (including the word 'kike') intoAmericanVogue at the side of an illustration about New York society. The issue was recalled and reprinted, and Beaton was fired.[18]
Beaton returned to England, wherethe Queen recommended him to theMinistry of Information (MoI). He became a leading war photographer, best known for his images of the damage done by the GermanBlitz. His style sharpened and his range broadened, Beaton's career was restored by the war.[19]
Beaton often photographed the Royal Family for official publication.[20] Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother was his favourite royal sitter, and he once pocketed her scented hankie as a keepsake from a highly successful shoot. Beaton took the famous wedding pictures of theDuke andDuchess of Windsor (wearing anhaute couture ensemble by the noted American fashion designerMainbocher). He photographedPrincess Margaret in a creamDior dress for her 21st birthday in 1951, which became one of the most iconic royal portraits of the 20th century.[21][22][23][24]
During theSecond World War, Beaton was first posted to the MoI and given the task of recording images from the home front. During this assignment he captured one of the most enduring images of British suffering during the war, that of 3-year-oldBlitz victim Eileen Dunne recovering in hospital, clutching her beloved teddy bear. When the image was published, America had not yet joined the war, but images such as Beaton's helped push the Americans to put pressure on their government to help Britain in its hour of need.[5]
Beaton had a major influence on and relationship withAngus McBean andDavid Bailey. McBean was a well-known portrait photographer of his era. Later in his career, his work was influenced by Beaton. Bailey was influenced by Beaton when they met while working for BritishVogue in the early 1960s. Bailey's use of square format (6x6) images is similar to Beaton's own working patterns.[citation needed]
In 1968, theNational Portrait Gallery in London mounted its inaugural photographic exhibitionBeaton Portraits 1928-68.[25] Furthermore, it was the first time a retrospective for a living photographer's work was shown at a British national museum. The exhibition, which was viewed by over 80,000 people, featured themed rooms with photographs of the royal family, war heros, authors, composers, and celebrities.[26][27] The exhibition travelled to the United States and was displayed as600 Faces by Beaton 1928-69 at theMuseum of the City of New York in 1969.[27] A week before the New York opening, Beaton photographedAndy Warhol and members of hisFactory as a last-minute addition to the show.[28]
After the war, Beaton tackled theBroadway stage, designingsets, costumes, and lighting for a 1946 revival ofLady Windermere's Fan, in which he also acted.[citation needed]
His costumes forLerner and Loewe'sMy Fair Lady (1956) were highly praised. This led to two Lerner and Loewe film musicals,Gigi (1958) andMy Fair Lady (1964), each of which earned Beaton theAcademy Award for Best Costume Design. He also designed the period costumes forOn a Clear Day You Can See Forever.
His additional Broadway credits includeThe Grass Harp (1952),The Chalk Garden (1955),Saratoga (1959),Tenderloin (1960), andCoco (1969). He was the recipient of fourTony Awards.[citation needed][29]
He designed the sets and costumes for a production ofGiacomo Puccini's last operaTurandot, first used at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and then at Covent Garden.[citation needed]
Beaton designed theacademic dress of theUniversity of East Anglia.[30]
Cecil Beaton was a published and well-known diarist. In his lifetime, six volumes of diaries were published, spanning the years 1922–1974. Recently some unexpurgated material has been published. "In the published diaries, opinions are softened, celebrated figures are hailed as wonders and triumphs, whereas in the originals, Cecil can be as venomous as anyone I have ever read or heard in the most shocking of conversation" wrote their editor,Hugo Vickers.[31]
The last public interview given by Sir Cecil Beaton was in January 1980 for an edition of the BBC's radio programmeDesert Island Discs. The interviewer wasRoy Plomley. The recording was broadcast posthumously on Friday 1 February 1980 following the Beaton family's permission. Owing to Beaton's frailty, the interview was recorded at Beaton's 17th-century home of Reddish House inBroad Chalke inWiltshire (near Salisbury).[citation needed]
Beaton, though frail, recalled events in his life, particularly from the 1930s and 1940s (the Blitz). Among the recollections were his associations with stars of Hollywood and British Royalty notablyThe Duke and Duchess of Windsor (whose official wedding photographs Beaton took on 3 June 1937 at relatively short notice); and official portraits ofQueen Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother) andQueen Elizabeth II on her Coronation day on 2 June 1953. The interview also alluded to a lifelong passion forperforming arts and in particular ballet and operetta.[citation needed]
The Beaton programme is considered to be almost the final words on an era of"Bright Young Things" whose sunset had taken place by the time of theabdication of Edward VIII. Beaton commented specifically onWallis Simpson (later titled The Duchess of Windsor after her marriage to the formerKing Edward VIII). The Duchess of Windsor was still alive at the time of the original Beaton interview and broadcast.[citation needed]
Beaton said that the one record that he would retain on the desert island should the others get washed away would beBeethoven's Symphony No 1, and his chosen book was a compendium of photographs he had taken down the years of "...people known and unknown; people known but now forgotten".[32]
Beaton hadrelationships with various men and women, including former Olympic fencer and teacherKinmont Hoitsma (his last lover),[33] actressesGreta Garbo andCoral Browne, dancerAdele Astaire, Greek socialite Madame Jean Ralli (Julie Marie 'Lilia' Pringo),[34] and British socialiteDoris Castlerosse.
He wasknighted in the1972 New Year Honours.[35]
Two years later, he suffered astroke that left him permanently paralysed on the right side of his body. Although he learnt to write and draw with his left hand, and had cameras adapted, Beaton became frustrated by the limitations the stroke had put upon his work. As a result of his stroke, Beaton became anxious about financial security for his old age and, in 1976, entered into negotiations withPhilippe Garner, expert-in-charge of photographs atSotheby's.
On behalf of the auction house, Garner acquired Beaton's archive – excluding all portraits of the Royal Family, and the five decades of prints held byVogue in London, Paris and New York. Garner, who had almost single-handedly invented the photographic auction, oversaw the archive's preservation and partial dispersal, so that Beaton's only tangible assets, and what he considered his life's work, would ensure him an annual income. The first of five auctions was held in 1977, the last in 1980.[citation needed]
By the end of the 1970s, Beaton's health had faded. He died on 18 January 1980 atReddish House, his home inBroad Chalke, Wiltshire, four days after his 76th birthday.[5]
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An exhibition of his works, curated byDavid Alan Mellor, opened on May 16, 1986, at theBarbican Centre in London, and was scheduled to travel toBarcelona andNew York by 1988.[37] The New York exhibition was held from March to April 1988 and was divided between theFashion Institute of Technology, whose exhibit focused on Beaton's fashion photography, and theGrey Art Gallery, whose exhibit focused on photographs of his personal life and celebrities.[38]
Major exhibitions have been held at theNational Portrait Gallery in London in 1968 and in 2004.[26][39]
The first international exhibition in thirty years, and first exhibition of his works to be held in Australia was held inBendigo, Victoria from 10 December 2005 to 26 March 2006.[citation needed]
In October 2011, the BBC'sAntiques Roadshow featured an oil portrait by Beaton of rock starMick Jagger, whom Beaton met in the 1960s. The painting, originally sold at the Le Fevre Gallery in 1966, was valued for insurance purposes at £30,000.[40]
TheMuseum of the City of New York dedicated an exhibition to Cecil Beaton from October 2011 to April 2012.[41]
An exhibition celebrating The Queen's Diamond Jubilee and showing portraits of Her Majesty by Cecil Beaton, opened in October 2011 at theLaing Art Gallery,Newcastle-upon-Tyne.[citation needed]
Cecil Beaton: Theatre of War at theImperial War Museum, London: major retrospective of Beaton's war photography, held from 6 September 2012 – 1 January 2013.[42]
Cecil Beaton at Home: Ashcombe & Reddish at The Salisbury Museum, Wiltshire, from 23 May- 19 September 2014, a biographical retrospective focussing on Beaton's two Wiltshire houses, brought together for the first time many art works and possessions from both eras of Beaton's life. The exhibition included a full-size reproduction of the murals and four-poster bed from the Circus Bedroom at Ashcombe, as well as a section of the drawing room at Reddish House.[citation needed]
In the 1989 Australian filmDarlings of the Gods, Beaton was portrayed byShane Briant. In the 2010 seriesUpstairs Downstairs (series 1, episode 3), Beaton was portrayed byChristopher Harper. InNetflix's 2016 seriesThe Crown, Beaton was portrayed byMark Tandy.[citation needed]. In the 2023 filmLee, Beaton was portrayed bySamuel Barnett.[43]
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