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Beaton Drawings 12 December 2003 - 8 June 2004 Room 31 Curated by Erika Ingham Heinz Archive and Library	Links Beaton Drawings Exhibition Page Cecil Beaton: Portraits
Cecil Beaton is best remembered for his elegant and sophisticated fashion and society photographs. He also enjoyed success in other spheres, as a stage designer, writer and illustrator, and had a gift for drawing as well as photographing portraits. This display of drawings and designs from the Gallery's Archive complemented the retrospective of his photographs, Cecil Beaton: Portraits (5 February - 31 May 2004 in the Wolfson Gallery) by illustrating these other aspects of his oeuvre. After a privileged upbringing in Edwardian Hampstead, at Harrow and Cambridge, his career took off after meeting the Sitwells in late 1926 when he produced an innovative photograph of Edith as a Medieval tomb sculpture. He was introduced to artistic, avant-garde and glittering circles, and quickly developed a wide reputation for his beautiful, often striking and fantastic photographs, which culminated in his portraits of Queen Elizabeth in 1939. In stark contrast he also proved to be an inspired photojournalist when employed by the Ministry of Information to photograph the country at war. After 1945, he concentrated increasingly on designing for stage, film, ballet and opera, winning accolades and awards. Throughout his life he also produced a large number of illustrated books recording people, travels and experiences. Notable amongst these are a series of diaries spanning half a century from 1922 to 1974, which record his life and many-faceted career as well as providing a unique portrait of the age. Beaton was awarded the CBE in 1957 and a Knighthood in 1972, two years before serious illness forced an end to his long career. With his immense style, extraordinary visual sense, fascination with new ideas and boundless energy, he is regarded as a seminal arbiter of 20th century taste. The drawings and designs in this display are part of a collection of works on paper bequeathed by Beaton to his secretary, Eileen Hose. Together with copyright for all Beaton's graphic work, they were donated to the National Portrait Gallery after her death in 1991.

Early Drawings

Ninnie (Alice) Collard after 1913 pencil Alice Collard was engaged as nanny to Cecil and his three younger siblings in 1913. A keen amateur photographer, she encouraged his early efforts with a camera and went on to assist at his professional portrait sessions.	possibly William Egerton Hine (1851-1926) c.1918 pen and ink 'Eggie' Hine was Beaton' s art master at Harrow. An accomplished artist who exhibited landscapes at the Royal Academy and other London galleries, he revolutionised the teaching of art at Harrow and built its first art school. It was with his tutelage and support that Beaton's talent for drawing and painting blossomed and he began winning prizes and selling work.

Cathleen Nesbitt (1888-1982) probably 1920s pencil Cathleen Nesbitt was one of Beaton's childhood heroines who helped to define his ideal of beauty. With one of the longest careers in show business history, she made her London stage debut in Pinero's The Cabinet Maker (1910) and gave her last performance at the age of 92, playing Mrs Higgins in My Fair Lady on Broadway (1981). This would seem to show her in the 1920s, suggesting it is not the juvenile drawing it appears.

Graphic Work
From 1927 Beaton became a leading contributor to Vogue of illustrations and caricatures in addition to photographs and articles. Several of his books, including The Book of Beauty and the first volume of his Diaries, were also illustrated with numerous line drawings in his characteristic, idiosyncratic style. Stylistically flexible, he was constantly refining his work and in 1953, at the age of 50, he enrolled at the Slade School of Art in an effort to improve his draughtsmanship and painting.

Gaby Deslys (1881-1920) as The Charm of Paris in New Aladdin c.1930 pen and ink and wash, with glitter additions A popular French actress and dancer famed for her feathered and jewelled outfits and her high-profile liaisons. She also worked as a spy for the French government during World War I. This drawing depicts her in her role as the Charm of Paris in The New Aladdin (1906), showing "how the fair Parisienne walks, sings and dances". A line-drawing of it was reproduced in The Book of Beauty (1930) where Beaton sang her praises: "a marvellous creature, of brilliantine and brilliance, and Christmas-tree tinsel... it was impossible to look at anyone else when she was on the stage".	Paula Gellibrand, Marquise de Casa Maury (1898-1986) published 1930 pen and ink Gellibrand was a Modigliani-style society beauty married at this time to the first of her three husbands, the Spanish-Cuban racing driver and founder of the Curzon Cinema, the 1st Marquess de Casa Maury. A childhood idol of Beaton's, she became one of his favourite models and a life-long friend. He recorded her appearance in words and images in The Glass of Fashion (1954). Enid Bagnold's novel, Serena Blandish (1924) was based upon her life. This drawing was the title-page to Beaton's first book, The Book of Beauty (1930), an illustrated anthology of the well-known beauties of the day. The glass dome was a recurring feature in his work.

*New York Impressions* published 1937 pen and ink and wash with collage Beaton loved New York where he was accepted into the artistic avant-garde and was much in demand as a photographer. This drawing illustrated Cecil Beaton's Scrapbook (1937), a collection of essays, photographs and drawings recording recent travels, people and experiences. The following year he recorded further impressions in Cecil Beaton's New York.

Fashion and Theatre Design
Beaton's first love was the theatre, and from creating the sets for his photographs it was a small step into stage design. It began to take precedence over photography after the Second World War, when he created numerous costume and set designs for ballets, opera, plays and film productions. His designs were stylish, romantic and sumptuous and frequently set in the opulent Edwardian and pre-war period of his childhood, epitomized by his greatest stage success, My Fair Lady, in 1956. In 1963 he also won two Oscars for the film version for his costume designs and art direction, following his first Oscar for Gigi in 1958.

A lady of fashion of circa 1910 published 1954 ink and wash Reproduced in Beaton's The Glass of Fashion (1954). Another product of his fascination with costume, this was a personal survey of the fashions and style-leaders of the first half of the 20th century, and it remains one of the best works on the subject. Beaton amassed a large collection of dresses by the world's greatest designers, part of which was exhibited at the V&A in Fashion - An Anthology (1971).	Probably costume designs for Turandot probably early 1960s pen and ink Beaton travelled widely in the East both as a war photographer, recording his experiences in Near East (1943) and Far East (1945), and again in 1957. He returned with art treasures and notebooks full of sketches which he used when designing the sets and 400 costumes for a production of Puccini's last opera Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York (1961) and Covent Garden (1963).
Coco Chanel (1883-1971) probably 1960s pencil	Coco Chanel (1883-1971) probably 1960s pencil
Chanel revolutionised women's fashions in the 1920s with her casual, liberating clothes which brought her popularity with the 'new women' of the era. Beaton photographed her at the height of her career in the 1930s. He also sketched her in Paris in the 1950s and 1960s prior to designing the award-winning costumes and sets for the musical Coco on Broadway (1969) in which Katharine Hepburn starred as Chanel.

Portraits and Caricatures
With his keen power of observation, Beaton drew his friends and acquaintances and recorded the fashionable circles in which he moved, while his wit revealed itself in biting caricatures. In his later years, with his health failing, Beaton filled a number of sketchbooks with quick line drawings and caricatures from the television. These are now in the National Portrait Gallery Archive and provide a snapshot of the actors, comedians, politicians and musicians appearing on television in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He suffered a stroke in 1974, and although he taught himself to draw, write and photograph with his left hand, it brought an end to his long career.

probably Sheila (née Berry), Countess of Birkenhead (1913-1992) probably 1940s pencil Sheila Berry, daughter of the newspaper proprietor 1st Viscount Camrose, was married to the 2nd Earl of Birkenhead and together they were a distinguished literary couple. She was a key figure in the Royal Society of Literature and the Keats-Shelley Association as well as a biographer of 19th century literary and artistic life. Also a courtier, she was lady-in-waiting to Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent.	Marguerite, Baronne de Cabrol (b.1915) and Mary, Baronne Alain de Rothschild (b.1916) probably 1950s pen and ink Both were fashionable women in Parisian society, known to Beaton from the international circuit. He was a regular visitor to Paris, where this was probably drawn. Marguerite d'Harcourt, known as Daisy, and her husband Hugues, Baron de Cabrol were among the closest friends of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Mary Chauvin du Treuil was married to the banker Alain de Rothschild.
Dame Maggie Smith (b.1934) early 1970s pencil	Dame Maggie Smith (b.1934) early 1970s pencil
Maggie Smith, grande dame of British theatre, began her stage career in the 1950s and joined Olivier's new National Theatre Company in 1963. Her numerous film roles have reinforced her reputation as both a dramatic actress and comedienne, from leads in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and Travels with My Aunt (1972) to Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter films.
Michael Crawford (b.1942) c.1974 pencil	Michael Crawford (b.1942) c.1974 pencil
One of the world's best known 'song 'n' dance' men, Crawford started his career as a boy soprano and child actor before moving into comedy where his definitive role was as Frank Spencer in the TV sitcom Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em (1974-9). His musical successes include leads in the circus musical Barnum (1981) and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera (1986).

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