Cecil Beaton: Portraits and Profiles - Softcover

Cecil Beaton

4.36

53 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0711239215 ISBN 13: 9780711239210

Publisher: Frances Lincoln, 2017

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This beautiful collection of fabulous photographs and incisive pen portraits captures the world of Cecil Beaton, one of the most celebrated portrait photographers of the twentieth century.

Cecil Beaton: Portraits and Profiles combines Beaton’ s photographic and pen portraits. Beaton’ s portraits offer insight, beauty, witty observations and a fascinating glimpse into his world. His images often flattered but his diaries and journals didn’ t necessarily follow suit and he was described by Jean Cocteau as ‘ Malice in Wonderland’ .

Included are stars of music, fashion, society, stage and screen. From Mick Jagger and Andy Warhol, Coco Chanel and Princess Grace through to Greta Garbo, Elizabeth Taylor and Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali.

Of Audrey Hepburn, Beaton said ‘ she is like a portrait by Modigliani where the various distortions are not only interesting in themselves but make a completely satisfying composite’ .

Marilyn Monroe ‘ romps, she squeals with delight, she leaps on the sofa. It is an artless, impromptu, high-spirited, infectiously gay performance. It will probably end in tears’ .

Marlon Brando was ‘ pallid as a mushroom, smooth-skinned and scarred, with curved feminine lips and silky hair, he seems as unhealthy as a lame duck. Yet his ram-like profile has the harsh strength of the gutter’

Cecil Beaton’ s life spanned many worlds and these are captured here through his fabulous photographs and incisive observations.

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Review:

"a more rounded pictures of this fascinating photographer and his extraordinary subjects."

"his fashion polymath status would put us all to shame, and today it would have made him the world's edgiest blogger. Luckily for us though, it's all in perfect print."

"Essential. From this moment on we will not enter a house that doesn't have a copy."

"his fashion polymath status would put us all to shame, and today it would have made him the world's edgiest blogger. Luckily for us though, it's all in perfect print."

"beautifully produced volume of his most iconic sitters"

"the perfect gift for those who like not just to glance at glamorous faces but to understand what lies beneath."

"absorbing book ... I haven't seen a better portrait of the 'living sculptures' Gilbert & George."

"this wonderful collection comes with Beaton's equally illuminating pen portraits."

"What's particularly thrilling about this book is that the sitters embody the most interesting people of the twentieth century, from all professions and backgrounds, from Winston Churchill to Coco Chanel."

"a more rounded pictures of this fascinating photographer and his extraordinary subjects."

'[Cecil Beaton: Portraits and Profiles]...would also make the perfect present for anyone interested in the social, intellectual and artistic scene of the twentieth century.'

About the Author:

SIR CECIL BEATON (1904–80) was educated at Harrow and Cambridge. His photographs first appeared in Vanity Fair and Vogue in the 1920s. During World War II he served in the British Ministry of Information, covering the fighting in Africa and East Asia. The foremost photographer of his day, he also designed the settings and costumes for numerous films and plays, and was a published and well-known diarist. Beaton was knighted in 1972.

HUGO VICKERS is a biographer, lecturer and broadcaster. He was invited to become Cecil Beaton’s authorized biographer in 1979 and has since 1987 served as Beaton’s literary executor.

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