“Remember you sheep the way that it's always been, the pictures photographer can never be seen.” Yet another truth brought by the nations head school master Erich Kästner. Perhaps a reason why pictures known by most, are often completely detached from the person behind the camera. This is the first in a series of articles flipping the camera, depicting the people on the other side of the lens. This week we are taking a look at Cecil Beaton, a photographer and master of mise-en-scène.
Originally from a middle-class background, Beaton becomes part of the ‘Bright Young Things’ in the 1920s. A group of young aristocrats and intellectuals living the good life after having survived the horrors of the great war. Based around Stephen Tennant, Evelyn Waugh and the Mittford sisters, the group hosted legendary festivities. In comes the fancy-dress party - and fancy dress it was! Perhaps the inspiration for Beatons early photography it offered a glamourous setting, each guest gracefully draped in the most elaborate of garments. Beaton often made use of mirrors and reflections, giving his work a similar air of a dream world and some may say an almost surrealistic atmosphere. A non-superficial depiction of his sujet’s beauty.
By the 1930s Beaton had started working for Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar in the USA and didn’t return to Britain until yet another war was unleashed on the world. He began documenting London's hospitals and quickly showed another side of his oeuvre, far from the days of high society soirees. It was the 1960s and 1970s that brought the next big shift to Beatons work, a shift back towards portrait photography. Less pompous than his work of the 20s and 30s, he depicted his often-well-known models, such as Mick Jagger, Twiggy, David Hockney and the Queen (who’s court photographer he had been since 1937) in their natural surroundings. Not only a photographer the aesthete Beaton also arranged various plays as well as designing the set and costume for the Oscar-winning feature film “My Fair Lady.”
Not unlike his photography, Cecil Beatons personal style was a nod to the 19th century. Three-piece-suits in loud greens and grey and gold patterns, paired with enormously long collars underlined his tall physique. Snuggly cut waistcoats flattered his narrow frame. In the 1970s the 1904 born Beaton could be seen in flared trousers and silk neckerchiefs – quite an appearance in the predominantly grey city. Never garish, he skilfully exaggerated minute details and followed trends, adapting them to his own personal understanding of style and dress.
If we had the honour of dressing Mr Beaton, we would have to create a melange of the understated craft of Henry Poole’s, the flamboyance of Tommy Nutter’s and the chiselled silhouette of Chittlebourgh & Morgan’s - piece of cake, right? Our suggestion would be a dark green corduroy three-piece, with a peaked lapel and a tight double-breasted waistcoat, topping a high-rise pleated trouser with turn-ups. Or frankly, the legendary bunny costume he wore to one of his numerous balls, because Beaton was not only a master of putting others in the spotlight but also of putting himself in it. He is afterall the master of self-portraits – even a head school master can be wrong every once in a while.
