Cecil Beaton

Cecil Beaton

Birth: 14th January 1904,
Place of Birth: Hampstead, London, UK
Nationality: British
Job Title: Photographer, Set-designer, Cartoonist, Artist, Writer, Diarist
Partners: Greta Garbo, Peter Watson, Michael Duff, other males unknown
Died: 18th January 1980, Salisbury, UK

Today, the whole world is a photographer. With digital cameras now a standard feature of most new mobile phones, we have all become avid portrait snappers. But how many of our photos though actually say something significant to a complete stranger? Could somebody who you have never met before work out the lives and loves of your friends just by looking at a group shot of you in a pub on New Year’s Eve? For centuries, portrait creators have been craftily capturing the essence of a notable person in a single image. Since the introduction of photography, few photographers have managed this task better than this month’s Gay Great.

The Beaton family had prospered well for several generations, first in Blacksmithing and later in timber trading. By the time Cecil - the first son of the family - was born, the Beatons were a well off family living in 1900’s London. Although based in the exclusive area of Hampstead, the family still struggled to gain respect in society circles. Their fortune was substantial, but their trade was not considered a noble one. Beaton’s mother was especially keen to be considered on a par with the elite. This caused frustration which dominated family life in Hampstead.

Consequently, Beaton soon proved to be every bit as high society obsessed as his parents. He adored looking at images of the glitterati in publications and failed to see why his beautiful sisters were not also adorning the pages of Tatler or the Illustrated London News. His weekly trips to the theatre increased his love of glamour and being in the spotlight as he swooned in the presence of leading ladies. However, his admiration was not motivated by sexual desire. Even by the time he started at Heath Mount Preparatory school, he had developed a camp manner and a personality his fellow students mocked as being ‘sissy’. His first day at preparatory school was marred by the constant teasing of future best-selling author Evelyn Waugh. Waugh continued to tease Beaton until the day he left, maiming Beaton’s memories of preparatory school forever.

One area in which Beaton did excel was theatre. When he moved on to Harrow School, he found more and more theatrical opportunities open to him. Whether designing sets, sewing costumes or performing, Beaton found the stage was where he went from an outcast to an arriviste. Tellingly, Beaton always chose to play female roles and his cross-dressing antics soon became so much the norm that he even felt free to wear make-up off the stage in his day to day life. This valuable opportunity to explore his femininity allowed Beaton to learn more about himself and his sexuality than many other young gays at the time could. In his early diaries, Beaton described himself as a ‘terrible, terrible homosexualist’, an ideological term he may well have picked up in one of his lessons and confused for the word ‘homosexual’.

It was his grandmother, however, who was to provide the catalyst for his future career. When he was 11, she decided to buy the artistic young Beaton a Kodak 3A Camera, a popular model at the time, which was renowned for being an ideal piece of equipment to learn on. Beaton began to teach himself the basics of photography and would often get his sisters and mother to sit for him. When he was sufficiently proficient, he would send the photos off to London society magazines, often writing under a pen name and ‘recommending’ the work of Beaton.

Despite having little or no interest in academia, Beaton moved on to St Thomas’ College in Cambridge in order to placate his parents. There, he studied history, art and architecture, all the while working in his homemade photographic studio. Undeterred by previous rejections, he continued to take and send images into all the major fashion magazines. Through his university contacts, he managed to get a sitting with the Duchess of Amalfi. The resulting images gave Beaton his first ever piece of published work when Vogue magazine bought and printed the photos.

The distraction of photography had a huge impact upon Beaton’s academic career. In 1925, he left, having not even achieved a pass in his degree. Beaton’s concerned father offered him a clerk’s job in the office of his timber merchants. He lasted for eight days. Still in contact with his high society friends, he began to mix with the ‘smart set’, wangling invites to the best parties in town. From the outset, it was obvious Beaton was after some of the fame and notoriety his companions possessed, but what wasn’t clear was that far from a selfish desire for fame, Beaton had a plan. Spending several years taking his camera along to all the social gatherings he was invited to, Beaton captured some privileged images of the elite and exhibited his works in 1927. The exhibition was a success with the vain London glitterati. Beaton set up his own studio a short while after and established himself as London’s premier society photographer.

Commissions soon came his way. A close friend (and some have suggested one-time lover) Stephen Tennant, asked Beaton if he could be a sitter. The images produced of Tennant, who was also notable for being Sigfried Sassoon’s long-term lover, encapsulated the iconic dandy look of the ‘bright set’ that were currently the talk of the town. Another member of the set was the aptly named poet Dame Edith Sitwell. She sat many times for Beaton throughout her life and provided an essential early commission for the foppish young photographer. The images he took were also making their way into Tatler and Vogue, justifying his new status as the definitive London society photographer.

London conquered, Beaton began to look towards America. The glamour of Hollywood was a big draw and Beaton was keen to capture a new breed of socialite - the movie star - in his own inimitable way. Beaton had also started to turn his hand to illustrations and cartoons and was desperate to capture the atmosphere of glamour that surrounded the New York and Hollywood set. He headed for US shores with a list of stars he desperately wanted to capture either on film or with his pen. Marlene Dietrich, the Marx Brothers and Tallulah Bankhead, among others, were more than happy to have their image recorded by him. One star that eluded the lens of Beaton was Greta Garbo. Beaton had obsessed over her for many years and was desperate to work with her. Sadly, she was yet to be persuaded.

Beaton’s work was never limited to just photography and illustration. A lover of the written word, he wrote in his journal daily, using it to let out the frustrations he felt in the glamorous, selfish and shallow world of celebrity. When they were published later in his life, they naturally caused huge controversy and some resentment.

Beaton was also well known for his elaborate theatre and film sets as well as his costume designing skills. His crowning glory was the film adaptation of My Fair Lady, for which he designed the sets and costumes.

Beaton’s career took on another facet in 1939 when the Prince of Yugoslavia, who was in London getting his wisdom teeth removed, employed Beaton to keep his daughter entertained with a photography session. The resulting images caught the eye of Elizabeth (later to be more commonly known as the Queen Mother). She asked him back to take a few shots of her. The results amazed her. Beaton had captured the human side of the Queen as well as maintaining a sense of dignity. The shoot instantly made Beaton a favourite in the Royal Court. Up until his death, he remained the photographer of choice, as well as a trusted confidant, to the family.

Like all other artists who were thriving in the late thirties, the war presented Beaton with another channel for his talent. Initially, he was posted to the Ministry of Information and given the task of recording the harrowing images emanating from the home front. During this assignment he captured one of the most enduring images of British suffering during the war, that of three-year-old Blitz victim Eileen Dunne recovering in hospital, clutching her beloved teddy bear. When the image was published, America had not yet officially joined the war. This sombre picture was soon splashed across the press in the USA. Images such as Beaton’s helped push the American public to put pressure on their Government to help Britain in its hour of need.

Beaton emerged from the war almost as famous as the sitters he so elegantly captured. His photography style had changed the rules of how a portrait should look whilst his foppish, ritzy and larger than life personality had captivated the public at large. However, in his personal life, Beaton still had no luck in love. Although he had a procession of boyfriends and one or two girlfriends, he had yet to find love. Before the war, Beaton had at last been granted a sitting with Greta Garbo and the couple began a short affair. Although Beaton had high hopes, the relationship did not last. Throughout his life, it is clear that Beaton was doomed to experience this sort of unrequited love. His diaries track desperate romantic feelings for men who rejected him. A four-year obsession and close personal (and sometimes sexual) relationship with the art dealer Peter Watson had amounted to nothing. A short affair with the writer Michael Duff had ended abruptly and now Garbo, his long-time muse, had also pushed him to one side. Beaton’s search for love was proving to be a wild goose chase.

When the swinging sixties came, Beaton adapted his style of photography to incorporate the psychedelic elements of the time. Throughout the decade, the noteworthy and the acclaimed lined up at his door to get the Beaton treatment for their latest publicity shots. The Royals continued to call on Beaton to record state events and general goings on. As the family began to address the need for a more relaxed public image, so Beaton was allowed to play with style, coming up with some memorable and starkly intimate portraits. His efforts were rewarded officially in 1972 when Beaton received a knighthood.

Sadly, two years later in 1974, Beaton suffered a major stroke. It took several months of recovery before he realised one side of his body would be permanently paralysed. Although he learnt to write and draw with his left hand, as well as having all his cameras adapted, Beaton became frustrated by the new limitations the stroke had put upon his work. By the end of the 70s, his health had faded to that of an old man. In January 1980, he passed away during the night at his grand home in Salisbury.

Beaton’s work went beyond the photos he produced. The camera was a recent invention for Beaton’s generation and had always been used as an extension of art, a mechanical way of creating a portrait. Beaton helped change a portrait from a simple recording of what a person looked like into a dynamic medium for encapsulating far more about the sitters’ life than flesh and bones. Images are everywhere in today’s world and more people than ever are trying their hand at capturing the world around them. But despite new technology, changing styles and a greater understanding of photography by the public, Beaton’s images still hold a timeless wonder that is untarnished by age. In a world containing millions of avid photographers, he still stands out as one of the greatest ever.