Kristine and Victoria are sad to report that we will miss the V and A Museum’s exhibit of Cecil Beaton’s photographs of Queen Elizabeth II, which is scheduled to close in London on April 22, 2012. We will share little of it with you today, and here is the website. Below is the schedule for additional presentations of the exhibit in the UK, Canada, and Australia.
Beaton’s talents for portrait photography were unrivaled, and he exercised them fully when the subject was the Queen.
Curtis Moffat, ‘Cecil Beaton’ about 1925
Gelatin silver print; Museum no. E.1556-2007
Sir Cecil W. H. Beaton (1904-1980) created hundreds of iconic portraits of celebrities ad designed sets and costumes for theatre and film. As a photographer for Vogue magazine, he lived what he saw, and was named to Hall of Fame of the Best Dressed List. Among his best known work
Princess Elizabeth by Cecil Beaton, March 1945
Museum no. PH.1746-1987
Princess Elizabeth and Prince Charles, Gelatin silver print, December 1948, Buckingham Palace
Museum no. PH.218-1987
Beaton photographed Queen Elizabeth before she came to the throne in 1952, and he took her official Coronation portrait.
Queen Elizabeth II by Cecil Beaton, 2 June 1953
Museum no. PH.311-1987
Beaton was renowned for his romantic portraits of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.
Queen Elizabeth, Buckingham Palace Garden, 1939
Gelatin silver print Museum no. E.1374-2010
Queen Elizabeth II by Cecil Beaton tours throughout 2012, the year of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
United Kingdom
Dundee, McManus Gallery – 30 September 2011 – 8 January 2012
Leeds City Museum – 8 May – 24 June 2012
Norwich Castle Museum – 7 July – 30 September 2012
Laing Art Gallery, Tyne & Wear – 13 October – 2 December 2012
International
Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat, Australia – 25 February – 15 April 2012
Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada – 1 June – 3 September 2012
Perhaps the only compensation for missing this exhibition is that the book
Queen Elizabeth II: Portraits by Cecil Beaton by Susanna Brown is available from the V and A Shop,
here.
From the book’s description: “… This fascinating book explores Beaton’s long relationship with the Queen and the royal family, and describes how his royal portraits shaped the monarchy’s public image from the 1930s to the late 1960s… [and] moulded the world’s perception of a princess, monarch and mother.”
She was a very pretty woman when she was young and still carries herself beautifully. I saw her once, when she visited NYC. She was in a motorcade that passed in front of the building I worked in on Third Avenue. I was amazed by her fresh, gorgeous complexion! She was on her way to Bloomingdale's Department Store. Someone had the wacky idea she'd be impressed by it. Personally, I love Bloomie's, but there are far better, bigger stores in London! (PS The word was that she was not particularly impressed 🙂