Now open at the National Portrait Gallery, Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World is the first major exhibition to spotlight the renowned twentieth century photographer’s trailblazing fashion photography.
Featuring portraits of, amongst others, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret – as well as Marlon Brando, Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon and Salvador Dalí – the exhibition charts Beaton’s meteoric rise and distinguished legacy.
Curated by Vogue contributing editor Robin Muir, Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World explores Beaton’s contribution to fashion, celebrating how his signature artistic style – a marriage of Edwardian stage glamour and the elegance of a new age – revitalised and revolutionised fashion photography and led him to the pinnacles of creative achievement.
Presenting around 250 items, including photographs, letters, sketches and costumes, the exhibition showcases Beaton at his most triumphant.
“Cecil Beaton needs little introduction as a photographer, fashion illustrator, triple Oscar-winning costume designer, social caricaturist, elegant writer of essays and occasionally waspish diaries, stylist, decorator, dandy and party goer.” said exhibition curator, Robin Muir. “Beaton’s impact spans the worlds of fashion, photography and design. Unquestionably one of the leading visionary forces of the British twentieth century, he also made a lasting contribution to the artistic lives of New York, Paris and Hollywood. It’s a delight to return to the National Portrait Gallery with this exhibition.”
Victoria Siddall, Director, National Portrait Gallery, added: “The National Portrait Gallery has a long and distinguished history with Cecil Beaton. His work was the subject of the NPG’s first dedicated photography exhibition in 1968, made in collaboration with Beaton himself, as well as being the first solo survey accorded any living photographer in any national museum in Britain. We are honoured to be working with Vogue’s Robin Muir, whose exhaustive research, vision and flair guides us through Beaton’s innovative and storied influences on the fashion world.”
Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World is generously supported by The Bern Schwartz Family Foundation. For further information: npg.org.uk
Image: A visitor observing portraits in the exhibition Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World at the National Portrait Gallery © David Parry/ National Portrait Gallery
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