Overview

Cecil Beaton (1904-1980) is one of the most celebrated British Portrait photographers of the twentieth century and is renowned for his images of elegance, glamour and style. His influence on portrait photography was profound and lives on today in the work of many contemporary photographers. Beaton used his camera, his ambition and his larger-than-life personality to mingle with a flamboyant and rebellious group of artists, writers, socialites and partygoers. These 'Bright Young Things' captured the spirit of the roaring twenties and thirties as they cut a dramatic swathe through the epoch. Beaton quickly developed a reputation for his beautiful, often striking and fantastic photographs, which culminated in his portraits of Queen Elizabeth in 1939. More than a photographer, Beaton became a society fixture in his own right. In a series of themed chapters, covering Beaton's first self-portraits and earliest sitters to his time at Cambridge and as principle society photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair, over 60 leading figures who sat for him are profiled and the dazzling parties, pageants and balls of the period are brought to life. Among this glittering cast are Beaton's socialite sisters Baba and Nancy Beaton, Stephen Tennant, the Mitfords, Siegfried Sassoon, Evelyn Waugh and Daphne Du Maurier. Beaton's photographs are complemented by a wide range of letters, drawings and ephemera and contextualised by artworks created by those in his circle, including Christopher Wood, Rex Whistler and Henry Lamb.

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9781855147720

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Reviews

explores the aesthetic 1920s set and the photographer who chronicled them.--Brian T. Allen National Review

Classic drinks that epitomize the era get a contemporary twist in [this] delightful new book.--Lucy Rees Galerie I'm devastated not to be able to experience Britain's National Portrait Gallery exhibition Cecil Beaton's Bright Young Things firsthand, but I am taking consolation in Robin Muir's handsome catalog (art directed with suitable elegance by Thomas Persson).--Hamish Bowles Vogue Otherworldly, untouchable in his beauty, and eerily, eternally modern.--Emma Garman Paris Review A web of names spins around every image, every interaction--Virginia Woolf, the actress Anna May Wong, the economist John Maynard Keynes, the author Daphne du Maurier. Everyone seemed to know everyone....We see, through Beaton, his subjects' relentless search for distraction and, simultaneously, for meaning. We see their quest for a semblance of place, a home, but also, in contradiction, for freedom--for an escape from the humdrum, for that heady, if sometimes startling, sensation of not being trapped.--Lou Stoppard Aperture From Bright Young Thing and documenter of London's lost generation of the 20s to a documenter of a new generation who would lose their lives in the Second World War, this is just one slice of Cecil Beaton's remarkable life through photography--Mark Simpson AnOther Man Returning to Beaton's enchanted world is a tonic in a fear-ridden age, the catalogue, written by the exhibition's curator, Robin Muir, a delight.--David Platzer New Criterion explores the aesthetic 1920s set and the photographer who chronicled them.--Brian T. Allen National Review A century ago, a bohemian set of aristos and artists oozed glamour and wreaked havoc all through the streets of London.--Hannah Betts Daily Mail A magnificently atmospheric display of pure magic--Lucie Davies Telegraph An era's fun and flamboyance preserved in aspic.--Rachel Campbell-Johnston The Times As they posed, partied and donned extravagant costumes, Beaton captured the antics of Britain's young aristocrats between the wars.--Sean O'Hagan Guardian Beaton changed fashion photography forever.--Robin Muir Vogue: UK Cecil Beaton and His Bright Young Things Are More Pertinent Than Ever--Jack Moss AnOther Cecil Beaton's Bright Young Things Are Tinged With Darkness--Will Noble Londonist Decades after Cecil Beaton captured their heyday on camera, his most colourful characters are taking us for a spin again--Hugo Vickers Telegraph Glittering portrait of a gilded generation.--Melanie McDonagh Evening Standard Power, privilege and glamour in 1920s London: Inside the glittering world of the Bright Young Things--Eve Watling Independent The 'Bright Young Things, ' as a flamboyant group of artists, writers and socialites came to be known, are shown here in all their decadence, boundless creativity and utter fashionability.--Ken Scrudato Blackbook

Author Information

Robin Muir is a Contributing Editor to British Vogue. His books include Vogue 100: A Century of Style (2016), Under the Influence: John Deakin, Photography and the Lure of Soho (2014), Vogue Model: The Faces of Fashion (2013), Vogue Covers: On Fashion's Front Page (co-author, 2009), In Camera: Snowdon and the World of British Art (2007), The World's Most Photographed (2005), People in Vogue: A Century of Portrait Photography (co-author, 2005), Norman Parkinson: Portraits in Fashion (2004) and David Bailey: Chasing Rainbows (2001). Thomas Perrsonis a creative director, editor and brand consultant based in London. He was the founder, editor-in-chief and and Creative Director of Acne Paper (2004-2014) and founder of Luncheon, a style and culture biannual launched in 2016.

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