The Bite Magazine - Spring/Summer 2020 - Issue 27

bite exhibition Lying on a black and white checkered floor surrounded by two baby cherub statues lies Edith Sitwell cocooned in an elaborate satin garment, with her hands and lilies across her chest. This picture taken in 1926 captures the outspoken poet, who once said “I am not eccentric. It’s just that I ammore alive than most people. I am an unpopular electric eel set in a pond of catfish” in an eerie pose. A scarf is wrapped around her face while a satin pillow supports her head. Anna May Wong, an American actress considered to be the first Chinese-American Hollywood movie star, as well as the first of her nationality to gain international recognition, is photographed elegantly posing in a satin-like outfit clutching a bunch of white flowers and sitting under a ceiling of flowers in 1929. Another picture taken three years later captured Oliver Messel in his costume for the role Paris in Helen! A play based on Offenbach’s opera La Belle Hélène. In contrast, Beaton was considered a man of varied and out- standing talents who captured both London and New York society as well as the golden age of Hollywood. He was Vogue’s chief photographer for several decades, among the great chroniclers of fashion, and a significant portrait photographer. During the Second World War, he documented the realities of conflict and its aftermath. He was also a set and costume designer for theatre and film of world renown for which he won three Oscars. A self-taught and enthusiastic horticulturalist, a painter and illustrator, a designer of clothes, book jackets, and interiors, he was known as a photographer of the Royal Family, whom he propelled, visually, into the modern age. As an avid diarist, his accounts were published spanning the years 1922-1974. “In the published diaries, opinions are softened, celebrated figures are hailed as wonders and triumphs, whereas in the originals Cecil can be as venomous as anyone I have ever read or heard in the most shocking of conversation,” wrote editor Hugo Vickers. Knighted in 1972, at the age of 68, Beaton had many personali- ties sit for him including Greta Garbo, Picasso, Augustus John, Queen Elizabeth II, Winston Churchill, Audrey Hepburn, Coco Chanel, David Hockney, Marilyn Monroe, and Andy Warhol. Two years later, he suffered a stroke which left him permanently paralysed on the right side of his body. Although he learned to write and draw with his left hand, he became frustrated with the limitations the stroke had on his work which had a massive effect on his health. Cecil Beaton’s Bright Young Things is accompanied by a fully il- lustrated hardback catalogue featuring around 150 beautifully reproduced works by Beaton and his contemporaries. In addi- tion to the works illustrated, there is an essay by Robin Muir and biographies for each of the Bright YoungThings. Finishing on 7 June 2020, the exhibition will be next shown at the Mil- lennium Gallery in Sheffield from 25 June to 18 October 2020 and The Wilson, Cheltenham’s art gallery and museum from 14 November 2020 to 28 February 2021. www.npg.org.uk/whatson/cecil-beaton-bright-young-things/ exhibition Cecil Beaton by Paul Tanqueray, 1937. National Portrait Gallery, London. © Estate of Paul Tanqueray. Archive; The Hon. Lois Sturt by Ambrose McEvoy, 1920. Philip Mould & Company.