Seealso:de Meyer, Baron; Fashion Photography Por-
traiture; Hoyningen-Huene, George; Nast, Conde ́;
Steichen, Edward; Surrealism
Biography
Born in January 14, 1904, Hampstead, London. Attended
Heath Mount School, London: attended St. Cyprian’s
School, Eastbourne, 1916–1918; entered Harrow School
in 1918 and is encouraged in his interests in art by E.
Edgerton Hine; St. John’s College, Cambridge, 1922 to
1925, leaving without a degree. Publishes theatrical car-
icatures inGranta. Self-taught in photography. Free-
lance portrait and fashion photography 1926–1930.
Photographs Edith Sitwell for the first time in 1926.
Starts regular work for BritishVogue, Visits New York
and works for the first time for American Conde ́Nast.
Portrays Hollywood stars forVanity Fair, 1929. Pub-
lishesThe Book of Beauty, November 1930, a mix of
society heroines and entertainment stars. Takes lease on
Ashcombe House, Wiltshire. 1931–1938 settles into a
pattern of trans-Atlantic professional commuting for
Vogue. 1932 Meets Greta Garbo for first time. 1933 visits
Paris meets Cocteau, Christian Berard, and Pavel Tche-
litchew and travels to North Africa with fellowVogue
fashion photographer and portraitist, George Hoynin-
gen-Huene. 1935 designs costumes and de ́cor for the
Walter-Sitwell ballet, The First Shoot. 1938 forced resig-
nation fromVoguefollowing his addition of anti-Semitic
scribbles on the cover of one of his decorative illustra-
tions. Also completesCecil Beaton’s New York. 1940
receives commissions from the British Ministry of Infor-
mation to photograph Churchill and War Cabinet mem-
bers. Documents Blitz victims and damage to historic
buildings in London. He is re-employed byVogue. 1941
undertakes further official governmental propaganda
photography for the Royal Air Force. These images are
widely reproduced and later gathered into two books, Air
of Glory and Winged Squadrons. 1942 joins the RAF as
photographer and documents the Mid East theatre of
war in Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Jordan.
He turned to stage and costume design in the 1940s
and continued through the 1970s. Receives two Acad-
emy Awards forMy Fair Lady, 1965, and one forGigiin
- Curates his own retrospective exhibition at the
National Portrait Gallery at the behest of its director,
Roy Strong. Knighted at Buckingham Palace in 1972,
suffers stroke, 1974.Voguecommissions to photograph
the Paris collections, 1979. Dies January 18, 1980.
Selected Books by Cecil Beaton
Beaton, Cecil.The Magic Image: The Genius of Photogra-
phy from 1839 to the Present Day. London: Weidenfeld
and Nicolson, 1973. American edition: Boston: Little,
Brown & Company, 1975
Beaton, Cecil.Cecil Beaton’s Diaries 1944–1948 The Happy
Years. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1972. American
edition:Memoirs of the 40s. New York: McGraw-Hill,- French edition: Les Annees Heurreuses. Paris:
Coedition Albin Michel-Opera Mundi, 1972
Beaton, Cecil.The Best of Beaton. London: Weidenfeld &
Nicolson, 1968
Beaton, Cecil.Cecil Beaton’s Diaries 1939–1944 The Years
Between. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1965
Beaton, Cecil.Royal Portraits. London: Weidenfeld &
Nicolson, 1963. American edition: New York: Bobbs
Merrill, 1963
Beaton, Cecil.Images. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, - American edition: New York: Bobbs Merrill, 1963
Beaton, Cecil.Cecil Beaton’s Diaries: 1922–1939, The Wan-
dering Years. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1961
Beaton, Cecil.The Glass of Fashion. London: Weidenfeld &
Nicolson, 1954. American edition: New York: Double-
day, 1954. French edition:Cinquante Ans d’Elegances et
d’Art de Vivre. Paris; Amiot-Dumont, 1954. Japanese
edition: Tokyo: Kern Associates, 1954
Beaton, Cecil.Photobiography. London: Odhams, 1951.
American edition: New York: Doubleday, 1951
Beaton, Cecil.Ashcombe. London: Batsford, 1949
Beaton, Cecil.Cecil Beaton’s India Album. London: Bats-
ford, 1945
Beaton, Cecil.Cecil Beaton’s Chinese Album. London: Bats-
ford, 1945
Beaton, Cecil.Far East. London: Batsford, 1945
Beaton, Cecil.British Photographers. London: Collins, 1944
Beaton, Cecil.Time Exposure. With Peter Quennell. Lon-
don: Batsford, 1941
Beaton, Cecil.Portrait of New York. London: Batsford,
1938
Beaton, Cecil.Cecil Beaton’s Scrapbook. London: Batsford,
1937
Beaton, Cecil.The Book of Beauty. London: Duckworth,
1930
Selected Books on Cecil Beaton
Danziger, James.Beaton. London: Secker & Warburg, 1980
Garner, Philippe, and David Alan Mellor.Cecil Beaton.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1994
Mellor, David Alan.Cecil Beaton. London: Barbican and
Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1986
Spence, Charles.Cecil Beaton: Stage and Film Designs.
London: Academy; New York: St. Martin’s, 1975
Vickers, Hugo.Cecil Beaton: A Biography. New York:
Donald I. Fine, Inc., 1985BEATON, CECIL