A fascinating new exhibition on Cecil Beaton – photographer, set designer, decorator, illustrator, dandy and socialite, opens on 18 November at Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, 39 Brook Street, London W1.
Beaton’s life will be captured through recreations of rooms from Ashcombe and Reddish, his Wiltshire country houses, as well as his London home at 8 Pelham Place. Key exhibits will be on display from the hugely successful Cecil Beaton at Home exhibition held this summer at Salisbury Museum, and curated by Andrew Ginger of Beaudesert.
The exhibition also marks the launch of ‘Cecil Beaton: Portraits and Profiles’ by Hugo Vickers, Beaton’s official biographer and literary executor. Beaton’s photographs, on loan from Sotheby’s Cecil Beaton Studio Archive, and some privately-owned oil portraits by Beaton, (some of which have never been shown publicly before) will be on display throughout the Brook Street showrooms.
Self Portrait at Reddish House, September 1968. ©The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s
Salvador and Gala Dali, the Sitting Room, Ashcombe, June 1936 (Cecil Beaton) ©The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s
Rex Whistler and Edith Oliver, Ashcombe (Cecil Beaton) ©The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s
Nancy Lancaster in the Entrance Hall, Haseley Court, 1950s (Cecil Beaton) ©The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s
Sibyl Colefax at Ashcombe (Cecil Beaton) ©The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s
The Drawing Room at 8 Pelham Place, 1963 (Cecil Beaton), with a contemporary look and walls upholstered in black velvet. ©The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s
Interior at Reddish House (Cecil Beaton) ©The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s
Cecil Beaton’s Flower Room, Reddish House (Cecil Beaton) ©The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s
BEATON at BROOK STREET is at 39 Brook Street, London W1 from 18 November to 5 December, (Monday – Friday). www.sibylcolefax.com
A series of lectures exploring Cecil Beaton’s extraordinary life, his self-created persona, and the creative legacy of his work in fashion, interiors and photography will accompany the exhibition. Tickets are limited so book early!
Malice in Wonderland (Wednesday, 19 November): Hugo Vickers, Cecil Beaton’s official biographer
and literary executor, discusses his life and work and introduces CECIL BEATON: PORTRAITS & PROFILES, combining photographic and pen portraits.
The Beaton Image (Wednesday, 26 November): A rare showing of this excellent 1984 BBC documentary, with introduction by Andrew Ginger, curator of CECIL BEATON AT HOME – TOWN & COUNTRY
My Fashionable Life (Tuesday, 2 December): Fashion historian Dr Ben Wild considers Beaton’s own style and sartorial elegance in this beautifully illustrated lecture.
The Man, the Magazine, the Century (Thursday, 4 December): Josephine Ross, author of BEATON IN VOGUE, explores Beaton’s extensive contribution to Vogue magazine through his drawings, photographs and essays.
Evening lectures at 39 Brook Street, W1. Tickets £25 each, including a pre-lecture glass of wine. For more details call +44 (0)20 7318 6035 or see their website: www.sibylcolefax.com
‘Cecil Beaton: Portraits and Profiles’, edited by Hugo Vickers, is published by Frances Lincoln.
Signed copies of the book will be available at £28 each (rrp £30) or £50 for two throughout the exhibition
To mark the exhibition and the publication of Hugo Vickers book, Sotheby’s Cecil Beaton Archive has made nine modern prints of Beaton’s most celebrated photographs available for sale from its collection. Depicting the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn and the Rolling Stones, each of the silver gelatine prints has been specially commissioned for Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, and will be on view alongside the exhibition.