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Beatonesque

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I saw this title on Pinterest and it piqued my interest, Cecil Beaton defined his era in many ways, but what is the definition of Beatonesque?  Mario Testino says he marked his period as if he were the only photographer around, Roy Strong wrote I know of no one else with an eye so attuned to the visual nuances of an age from Neo-Edwardian to surrealism, from Neo-Baroque, to Op and Pop… he distilled the essential images of successive decades. So what are the markings, or makings of the Beatonesque ?

Cecil Beaton self portrait 1920's

Beaton defines himself? a self portrait from the 1920’s complete with flowers, faux boserie, surreal hand, exotic mask, studio lighting, painter’s palette and copious sketches. The artiste at work.

But what about his subjects? their settings? artistic progress? inspiration?

edith sitwell 1928

He needed society to accept him and his pioneering style, poet and aristo Edith Sitwell  sat for him in 1928  and en-eccentric famille below,

sitwells cecil Beaton

 opening the door to

Cecil Beaton the bright young things

the Bright Young Things, the aristo party set that gave him access to hi-society and whose photographs made his name .   The longed for ‘uprising‘ (Cecil’s term)  that ultimately allowed him to (ex)claim only Queen Mary and Virginia Wolf had denied him a sitting.  However it was  the middle class background he despised that gave him the outsider’s eye for detail and nuance, Ultimate-Bright-Young-Spark Stephen Tennant observed you may think Cecil is listening intently to what you say. He isn’t. He’s counting the hairs in your nostril as you speak.

stephen tennant

Stephen 1927 against silver lame

He took society beauties and pioneered dramatic new images for them, the results gave them a   a movie star quality they revelled in.

Marquesa de Casa Murphy 1928 Cecil Beaton

Sequins on Sequins, PING! Marquesa de Casa Murphy 1928Baba Beaton and debs New Year 1930

his sister amidst fellow debs, New Year’s 1930, with lashing of balloons, jewels and attitude wrapped in cellophane.

Duchess of Westminster wedding Cecil Beaton

Romantic in her dramatic heart tiara, evocatively staged with flowers and feathers, the Duchess of Westminster 1931

or what about his ‘best of British beauty’ Lady Diana Cooper who bewitched Americans as the artistique-aristo on theatrical tour

Diana Cooper 1930

where she probably met THE society hostess Elsa Mendel, propped, set designed and set up by Cecil below …

Cecil Beaton societ hostess Elsie McMendel

Cecil’s visceral creative and  social ambition relentlessly drove him:  he sought out new inspiration, particularly in Paris with the avante garde artistic set and he travelled extensively,  camera and sketchbook in hand charting his visual journey, assimilating, editing, distilling.

cecil beaton sketch New York

his enthusiasm for New York is almost palpable in this 1929 sketch.

Cecil Beaton New York

culminating in ‘I did it my way’, Cecil’s guide to New York, published 1938, fresh and vibrant 80 years on.

The 30’s were really a Cecil decade, coup followed coup, the depression era required  glamorous escapism and romantic visions:  perfect for Cecil’s flamboyant fairy tale style.  Vogue gave him top billing and top dollar especially when he developed a special relationship with American Wallis Simpson who unseated the British King.

Wallis Sketch by Cecil Beaton

Wallis sketched by Cecil and photographed with Edward; his brief to ‘soften’ her, make her a figure of romance.

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Wallis Simpson and Edward by Cecil

Then there were gorgeous Vogue covers: his first for the American issue illustrated in 1935

the were Vogue covers

his second photographed in April 1936:

1930's Vogue cover Cecil Beaton

an array of society and fashion shoots, incorporating surreal touches and dramatic lighting:

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his iconic hat box photo 1934IMG_6342

channelling Cocteau? pre-empting Hitchcock? and his theatrical career?IMG_6341

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commissioning Ballet Russes inspired backgrounds for fashion photography

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using simple surprises and scale games to transform fashion shoots above and belowIMG_6396

 where movie star glamour and abundant flowers create a sculpted romance

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or a Sleeping Beauty, La princesse Karam Kapurthala endormie 1934,

mona harrison cecil beaton

and always imaginative, another iconic shot, Mona Harrison ‘ breaking through’, ripped paper and ragged paper frames being another, often copied, Beaton trick.

Then of course there were his celebrity images, Cecil claimed he only shot those he knew and admired, but his ‘unexpurgated’ diaries reveal harsh insights and often coruscating wit, nicknamed Malice in Wonderland he noted: I can’t afford a whole new set of enemies.

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 but he never failed to deliver, from a poised Marlene Dietrich above to a perfectly regal Chanel below.

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1938 saw his removal from American Vogue for an anti-semitic  comments, a serious error and end of an era in some ways. However in 1939 the  palace doors swung open and he became a ‘quasi-royal‘ photographer through to the 1952 coronation and beyond.  His images really define our vision of British royalty, MarioTestino noted: he created the bridge without which his iconic images of Diana for Vanity Fair would not exist.

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 a young ‘Queen Mother’.

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 Princess in waiting

queen elizabeth cecil beaton

 the day itself,  coronation, Cecil was ringside.

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and finally his last and possibly most famous image of the Queen in 1968:  powerful and heroic.

The war changed Beaton, removed from his gilded hi-society sphere he travelled with the army abroad and through the bombed capital recording the effects of war:

wartime London Cecil Beaton

but his eye for beauty never left him, in bomb blasted Londonwartime tanks Cecil Beaton

or amidst the tank wreckage in North Africa

Life magazine cover Cecil Beaton

nor his eye for a portrait, his image of this hospitalised child made the cover of Time magazine and tugged American heart strings.

After the war Cecil continued to deliver extraordinary beautiful fashion images and revealing celebrity portraits.

charles james portrait cecil beaton, vogue-1948

 perhaps the most famous Beaton fashion image of all, Vogue 1948, featuring 8 models ‘tonally displayed’ in an 18th century room.

 Formal, elegant, complex and theatrical.

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those elaborate flower settings finally in colour for American Vogue, Cecil usually supplied the flowers for his shoots from his own garden.IMG_6351

a romantic formality for the  1950’s New Look above and dreamy romance below.

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through to 1960’s fashion shoots with Jackson Pollock inspired backdrops IMG_6403

 and amidst ripped, painterly paper an exquisite 18th Century beauty aka Jean Shrimpton

jean shrimpton

legendary celebrity images include:

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Garbo en Poirot ( Cecil in Love)
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the often copied image of Marilyn IMG_6359

Cole Porter in reflectionIMG_6353

Audrey in his Oscar winning designs for My Fair Lady and belowIMG_6397

Julie Andrews mirrored, again, Beaton was big on reflection, the duality of image.IMG_6361

Margot and NureyevIMG_6398

the list goes on and on, down to Warhol’s Factory, where ‘Rip van With  It’ as he was then known, held his own.

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Where did these images come from?

What distinguishes Beaton is a unique combination:

  • a supremely calibrated visual lens
  • a  Classics education which gave him a great understanding for historical references and a rich vocabulary of visual metaphor
  • a fiendishly socially tuned antennae which could equally drill into the individual
  • ALL rakishly completed by ‘his top hat and tails’ panache.

His most famous legacy is his photographs, but he was multi-talented as he was faceted: his sketches are brilliant, his costumes won awards and his writing is vivid… oh and let’s not forget his decorating, fabulous houses and gardens, chic hotel suites and reknown set design.  All by Beaton.

All Beaton’s work revels in historical allusions, he was consistently drawn to 3 eras:

18th Century French, (Rococo meets Marie Antoinette), Rococo’s exuberant rule-breaking naturalism and Marie’s beautifully chic Neo-Classical.

rococo pompadour bedroom

Madame Pompadour’s Rococo bedroom and the lady herself:

rococo pompadour

Marie Antoinette’s retreat at Petit Trianon

Official Reopening of the Petit Trianon in the National Estate of the Palace of Versailles, France - 24 Sep 2008

and the lady herself

Marie Antoinette Muslin dress

Closer to home, 19th Century Regency,  where Neo-Classical design  met Chinoiserie, Empire and Eygpt in a sophisticated British style: think Brighton Pavillion and Jane Austen. Most powerfully of all Edwardian England, the land of his childhood and the final supremely glamorous fling of the aristocracy (Remember Downton series 1?)).

louis-vuitton-preview-10

Marc Jacobs does, AW 12’s Louis Vuitton similarly celebrated Edwardiana, proof of the enduring power of historical style to inspire.

Each of these eras is a pinnacle in terms of design, call it a final extravagant flourish and share the following:

  • women appear romantic with a profusion of props (flowers to fans, plumed hats to ribbons and bustles).
  • classical design underpins an elaborate mélange of styles with exotic influences
  • sur-real elements combine with  extravagant, visually arresting shapes.

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detail from 1948 image

Beaton studied these periods and by fusing them with fashionable elements of  his own era, from the Ballet Russes to surrealism, Hollywood Regency to Pop created a  visionary body of work that continues to inspire today, check out  that Beatonesque  board over on pinterest and think:

FLOWERS, dramatic lighting, mirrors, sequins, beauty, BEAUTY, cellophane, paper, artistic palettes, classical staging,  surreal moments and reflected glory.

Top hat and Tails photography: the Beatonesque, all rise for Cecil Beaton.

IMG_6383 IMG_6363 cecil Beaton at the Black and White Ball Truman Capote IMG_6330 IMG_6329 IMG_6326 IMG_6320 Cecil Beaton, self-portrait Cecil-Beaton young Beaton

images for this post are from the books below re. Cecil, from my post on the Rococo and Marie Antoinette  as linked.

beaton books



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