Cecil Beaton

The stylish and extravagant world of the “Bright Young Things” of 1920s and ’30s London, seen through the eye of renowned British photographer Cecil Beaton

In 1920s and ‘30s Britain, Cecil Beaton used his camera and his larger-than-life personality to mingle with that flamboyant and rebellious group of artists, writers, socialites and partygoers who became known as the “Bright Young Things.” Famously fictionalized by the likes of Evelyn Waugh (in Vile Bodies), Anthony Powell and Henry Green, these men and women cut a dramatic swathe through the epoch and embodied its roaring spirit.

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 50 leading figures who sat for Beaton 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, Siegfried Sassoon, Evelyn Waugh and Daphne du Maurier. Beaton’s photographs are complemented by a wide range of letters, drawings, book jackets and ephemera, and contextualised by artworks created by those in his circle, including Christopher Wood, Rex Whistler and Henry Lamb.

Cecil Beaton (1904–80) is one of the most celebrated British portrait photographers of the 20th century and is renowned for his images of elegance, glamour and style. Beaton quickly developed a reputation for his striking and fantastic photographs, which culminated in his portraits of Queen Elizabeth in 1939. Also well known as a diarist, Beaton became a society fixture in his own right. His influence on portrait photography was profound and lives on today in the work of many contemporary photographers.

Drink like one of the Bright Young Things with Cecil Beaton’s Cocktail Book

Cecil Beaton (1904–80) was one of the most celebrated British portrait photographers of the 20th century, so renowned for his images of celebrities and high society that his own name has become synonymous with elegance, glamour and style. In the 1920s and ’30s, Beaton used his camera, his ambition and his larger-than-life personality to mingle with a flamboyant and rebellious group of artists and writers, socialites and partygoers whose spirit and style cut a dramatic swathe through the epoch. Canonizing the era’s “Bright Young Things” in his distinctive brand of opulent studio portraiture, Beaton worked his way up from middle-class suburban schoolboy to glittering society figure.

This miniature cocktail book features a delightful array of recipes inspired by the decadent drinks of Beaton’s youth, and the fabulous friends and celebrities whom he photographed. Period classics such as the Hanky Panky, Manhatten, Negroni and Sidecar are given contemporary twists by the Head Bartender and Mixologist of the world famous Claridge's Hotel in London, which played host to some of the most extravagant Bright Young gatherings. It is illustrated with the artist’s own photographs and the witty and distinctive drawings he produced throughout his life, recording people, travels and experiences, which were featured in Vogue magazine. A must-have for every well-appointed bar cart, Cecil Beaton’s Cocktail Book brings to life a deliriously eccentric, glamorous and creative era.

This beautiful publication presents a selection of portraits by Cecil Beaton (1904–80), one of the 20th century's definitive and most stylish portraitists, whose oeuvre spans so many phases of social transformation. The portraits selected for this volume illustrate the range of his sitters from around the globe—actors, artists, writers, politicians, musicians, philosophers and royalty.
A tremendous innovator, Beaton had the gift of reinventing himself for each era he traversed, from capturing the froth and fun of the '20s and '30s to recording the horrors of World War II and the flamboyance of Swinging London. Subjects depicted here include the Duke of Windsor, Mick Jagger, Maria Callas, Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, Winston Churchill, Christian Dior, Orson Welles, Pablo Picasso, David Hockney, Georgia O’Keefe, T.S. Eliot, Aldous Huxley and Gertrude Stein.
With its delightful pink board cover, tip-on and embossing, this affordable volume is one of the most delightful Beaton monographs ever published.