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Beaton's first assignment was a series of portraits of British war leaders, including an iconic image of the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, at the height of the Battle of Britain in 1940. The Blitz, the Defence of Britain and the domestic war effort dominated Beaton’s early war photography.
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1940s vintage exhibition print of Cecil Beaton photograph MH...
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IWM (Db 65) - Cecil Beaton: WW2 War Photographer - Imperial...
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IWM (Cbm 1358) - Cecil Beaton: WW2 War Photographer -...
- Cecil Beaton in The Middle East
Cecil Beaton in The Middle East - Cecil Beaton: WW2 War...
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- The Burma Campaign 1942-1945
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- Tyneside Shipyards, 1943
Tyneside Shipyards, 1943 - Cecil Beaton: WW2 War...
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- Marlene Dietrich
- Salvador Dali and His Wife, Gala
- Katherine Hepburn
- The Blitz
- Wing Commander Neil
- Queen Elizabeth II
- Marilyn Monroe
- My Fair Lady
- Coco Chanel
- Twiggy
Famed for her androgynous style, Beaton reversed expectation with his series of portraits of Marlene Dietrich that recalled classical sculpture thanks to the German-born star’s sharp, sculptural features. Dietrich’s exaggerated body language and jewellery references her role as a performer, while the portrait highlights Dietrich’s famously pale com...
By 1936, Salvador Dalíand Beaton were in a creative ascendancy. Dalí married in Paris, 1934 and first visited the United States in the same year where he held an exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery, which was a commercial and critical success. His surrealism was captivating to US audiences and he delivered three lectures at the Museum of Modern A...
It’s clear there was only one Hepburn in Beaton’s life and it certainly wasn’t Katherine. “She is the egomaniac of all time,” he wrote his diary. “A raddled, rash-ridden, freckled, burnt, mottled, bleached and wizened piece of decaying matter.” He wasn’t shy about expressing himself and also said of Katherine Hepburn, “Her personality is so forcefu...
At the outbreak of World War II, the Queen recommended Beaton to the Ministry of Information where he swapped his customary glamour for atmospheric war reporting, and in the process captured one of the most enduring images of British suffering during the war. That was three-year-old Blitz victim Eileen Dunne in her Great Ormond Street Hospital bed,...
Unlike much war photography, Beaton avoided documenting the gory aspect of conflict. Instead, there was a playfulness and humanity to his compositions that captured the people involved in fleeting moments of normality. It’s reminiscent of a playful photo among friends, but this is Wing Commander Thomas Francis ‘Ginger’ Neil, a survivor of the Battl...
In 1936 King Edward VIII abdicated after just 326 days on the throne and left for France with the American socialite, Wallis Simpson. It was a huge scandal and the Royal Family desperately needed to soften their image (sound familiar?), which Beaton achieved with a series of angelic portraits of the young Queen Elizabeth II, who was still a princes...
One of the most celebrated photographers of the 20th century met the icon of 20th century cinema just the once at the Ambassador Hotel in New York, February 1956, but this one sitting produced a treasure trove of uninhibited, relaxed portraits that revealed Monroe’s playful personality. In his diary, he wrote, “The initial shyness over, excitement ...
Having won a Tony Award for Best Costume Design for My Fair Lady in 1957, Beaton repeated his success for the big screen version, which won Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design at the 1964 Academy Awards. Audrey Hepburn is immortalised as Liza Doolittle in typically eye-catching and elegant surroundings that match her beauty. “She’s a good gi...
“Fashion is not simply a matter of clothes. Fashion is in the air, born upon the wind,” said Coco Chanel and Cecil Beaton’s portraits of one the ultimate fashionistas exudes high fashion from her Paris apartment. Filled from floor to ceiling with antiques, Beaton still manages to fix Chanel as the central figure of the busy composition thanks to he...
An icon of Swinging Sixties London, Beaton placed the model Twiggy on a pedestal in his London home to draw parallels between her beauty and that of art, while the low camera angle allows viewers to look up to her, which exaggerates her significance. In the color edition, the orange dress contrasts with the wall behind, while the vertical lines of ...
Nov 2, 2012 · CECIL BEATON (1904–1980) IS REMEMBERED as a chronicler and habitué of high society. One of Britain’s leading fashion and portrait photographers, he burst onto the scene when he was still in his 20s with shots of the royal family, Fred Astaire, Marlene Dietrich, and other stars of the 1920s and 1930s. All the while, he indulged in the same ...
Best known for his society portraits, Cecil Beaton (1904–1980) was one of the most famous British portrait photographers of the twentieth century. During the Second World War he also worked as an official photographer for the Ministry of Information.
Aug 31, 2012 · But this month a new exhibition and book (Cecil Beaton: The Theatre Of War) will reveal a different, rarely-seen side to his work: the touching and often harrowing images he took during World...
During the Second World War, Beaton worked as an official photographer for the British Ministry of Information. In 1940–1, his assignments were based in Britain, documenting domestic efforts and damage from the Blitz.
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Jun 1, 2018 · During World War II Beaton was employed by the Ministry of Information to record life on the home front and in the arenas of war. He took around 10,000 photographs for them – more than any other single photographer – and all done with one Rolleiflex camera.
