Dictionary of Meaning

<<Back
Please select a letter:
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0-9

Cecil beaton

*** Shopping-Tip: Cecil beaton
'''Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton''' (January 14, 1904 – January 18, 1980) was an England English fashion and portrait photographer and a stage design stage and costume designer for films and the theatre.

Photography
Educated at Harrow School Harrow and St John's College, Cambridge St. John's College, University of Cambridge Cambridge, Beaton picked up photography on his own. He taught himself the tricks of the trade as a young boy, taking the usual pictures of friends and family. At the end of his college career in 1925, he had set up his own successful photography studio. One of his earliest clients and, later, best friends was Stephen Tennant; Beaton's photographs of Tennant and his circle are considered some of the best representations of the "Bright Young Things" of the twenties and thirties. He was already taking photographs for the British edition of Vogue in 1931 when George Hoyningen-Huene, who was a photographer for the French Vogue traveled to England with his new friend Horst P. Horst Horst. Horst himself would begin to work for French Vogue in November of that year. The exchange and cross pollination of ideas between this collegial circle of artists across the English Channel Channel and the Atlantic Ocean Atlantic gave rise to the look of style and sophistication for which the 1930s are known. Beaton is best known for his fashion photographs and society portraits. He worked as a staff photographer for ''Vanity Fair (magazine) Vanity Fair'' and ''Vogue magazine Vogue'' in addition to photographing celebrities in Hollywood. Beaton's first camera was a Kodak 3A folding camera. Over the course of his career, he employed both large format cameras, and smaller Rolleiflex 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. Beaton often photographed the Royal Family for official publication. Queen Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon Elizabeth, the Queen Mother was his favorite Royal sitter, and he once pocketed her scented hankie as a keepsake from a highly successful shoot. Beaton took the famous wedding pictures of the Edward VIII of the United Kingdom Duke and Wallis, Duchess of Windsor Duchesss of Windsor (wearing an ensemble by the noted fashion designer Mainbocher). During the second world war, he worked for the British Ministry of Information, as a documentary photography documentary photographer.

Stage and film design
Image:Bookcover-hepburn-by-beaton.jpg thumb|right|150px|The cover of ''Cecil Beaton's Fair Lady'' Beaton's diary of working on the film After the war, Beaton tackled the Broadway (theatre) Broadway stage, designing sets, costumes, and lighting for a 1946 revival of ''Lady Windermere's Fan'', in which he also acted. His most lauded achievement for the stage was the sets and costumes for Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady (1956), which led to two Lerner and Loewe film musicals, ''Gigi (1958 film) Gigi'' (1958) and ''My Fair Lady'' (1964), both of which earned Beaton the Academy Award for Costume Design. His last work for Broadway was sets and costumes for ''Coco'' (1969) starring Katharine Hepburn.

Later life
In 1972, he received his knighthood, but suffered a stroke two years later. This hindered him from photographing for five years. He picked up the camera again for a short while in 1979, but died the following year. Though primarily homosexual -- the great love of his life was the millionaire art collector Peter Watson -- he did have relationships with women, including the actress Greta Garbo and socialite Doris Castlerosse. He claimed that his heterosexual virginity was taken by American socialite Marjorie Oelrichs. '''Notable Photographs''' * ''Elizabeth II's Coronation'', 1953. * ''Audrey Hepburn'', 1964. * ''Bomb Victim'', 1940. * ''Dame Edith Sitwell'', 1956. '''Books by Cecil Beaton''' * ''Persona Grata'', 1953. * ''Indian Diary and Album'' * ''Beaton in the Sixties: The Cecil Beaton Diaries as He Wrote Them, 1965-1969'' * ''The glass of fashion'' * ''My Bolivian aunt: a memoir'' * ''My royal past'' * ''Chinese Diary and Album'' * ''Japanese'' * ''Self-portrait with friends : the selected diaries of Cecil Beaton 1926-1974.'' * ''The wandering years; diaries, 1922-1939.'' * ''The years between; diaries 1939-44.'' * ''The strenuous years, diaries 1948-55.'' * ''The restless years : diaries, 1955-63.'' * ''The parting years : diaries, 1963-74.'' * ''The Unexpurgated Beaton: The Cecil Beaton Diaries as He Wrote Them, 1970-1980.'' *''Cecil Beaton's 'Fair Lady','' (1966) (diary excerpts and costume sketches) * ''The face of the world : an international scrapbook of people and places.'' * ''I take great pleasure.'' * ''Quail in Aspic: the life story of Count Charles Korsetz''

Exhibitions
Major exhibitions have been held at the National Portrait Gallery (United Kingdom) National Portrait Gallery in London in 1968 and in 2004. The first international exhibition in thirty years, and first exhibition of his works to be held in Australia was held in Bendigo, Victoria Bendigo, Victoria (Australia) Victoria from 10 December 2005 to 26 March 2006.

References
Charles Spencer: ''Cecil Beaton Stage and Film Designs (Art & Design Monographs)'', 1995, ISBN 1854903985 Hugo Vickers: ''Cecil Beaton'', 1985, ISBN 1556110219

External links

- Cecil Beaton's biographic sketch at Find A Grave
- Cecil Beaton in the National Portrait Gallery
- ''''Beaton's Portraits'''' published by the National Portrait Gallery.
- Internet Broadway Database - Work of Cecil Beaton Category:1904 births Beaton, Cecil Category:1980 deaths Beaton, Cecil Category:Alumni of St. John's College, Cambridge Beaton, Cecil Category:Bisexual artists Beaton, Cecil Category:Cambridge Footlights Beaton, Cecil Category:Costume designers Beaton, Cecil Category:English photographers Beaton, Cecil Category:Lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender people Beaton, Cecil Category:Portrait photographers Beaton, Cecil de:Cecil Beaton ja:セシル・ビートン sv:Cecil Beaton see : Cecil Beaton

*** Shopping-Tip: Cecil beaton