Press Release
12 May 2015
Pera Museum presents
Portraits by “Cecil Beaton”
from Sotheby’s Archives
13 May – 26 July 2015
One of the most significant and multi-faceted photographers of the 20th
century, Cecil Beaton’s (1904-1980) captivating portraits are exhibited for the
first time at Pera Museum, in collaboration with Sotheby’s. The exhibition
focusing on Oscar winning costume designer Cecil Beaton is curated by
Terence Pepper, the Senior Advisor on Photographs at the National Portrait
Gallery in London.
Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Pera Museum, in the context of its 10th year
celebration program, is presenting the work of Oscar winner costume designer Cecil
Beaton between the dates 13 May – 26 July 2015. Prepared in collaboration with
Sotheby’s and curated by Terence Pepper, the Senior Advisor on Photographs at
the National Portrait Gallery in London, the exhibition ‘Cecil Beaton: Portraits’
includes portraits of artists, actors, writers, intellectuals and royalty from between
1920s to the 1970s, from the collection of Sotheby’s Cecil Beaton Studio Archive.
Cecil Beaton worked in a variety of media ranging from painting, illustration,
caricature, theatre and film costume design (winning two Oscars for the latter
category for ‘Gigi’ and ‘My Fair Lady’), as well as being a best-selling author,
photographic historian, diarist, and occasional actor. However it is as a photographer
that most critics agree that he made his most important contribution to the arts.
Beaton’s photographs define a glittering generation, as he captured from behind his
camera lens the great and famous personalities of the 1920s to the 1970s - from
eminent artists, to iconic actors, influential philosophers, and international royalty.
These intimate portraits tell the story behind the public veneer of the sitter,
illuminating their private lives and relationships with Beaton himself.
Terence Pepper, curator of the exhibition explains how Cecil Beaton’s selected
works were brought together:
“...When approached by M. Özalp Birol, General Manager of Suna and İnan Kıraç
Foundation Culture and Arts Enterprises and the whole team of the Pera Museum
and Joanna Ling, Curator at the Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s with an
agreed brief that we would create a new exhibition that contained many of the master
works but also to add to them a number of fascinating and previously unshown works
found through further research in the archive that Sotheby’s acquired in 1977, and in
particular some of his lesser known works taken in colour.”
Meşrutiyet Caddesi No.65, 34443 Tepebaşı - Beyoğlu – İstanbul Tel. + 90 212 334 99 00, info@peramuzesi.org.tr
www.peramuzesi.org.tr
Cecil Beaton was undoubtedly the most significant British-born photographer of the
20th century. His career stretched from the 1920s until his death in January 1980.
Since then his work has remained in fashion and provides one of the most astute
visual records of the people and society he encountered in London, Paris and New
York and his travels throughout the world. Beaton’s photographic legacy has
continued to be featured regularly in books, magazines and exhibitions, highlighting
the many facets of his achievements as a chronicler of his era.
The exhibition ‘Cecil Beaton: Portraits’ is on view at Pera Museum until 26th July
2015.
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue published by
Pera Museum.
In collaboration
The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive
Sotheby’s is the privileged guardian of the Cecil Beaton Studio Archive, a matchless repository of over
100,000 negatives, 9,000 vintage prints and 42 scrapbooks from the celebrated photographer’s
personal collection. Cecil Beaton negotiated the transfer of his private archive to Sotheby’s in 1977 in
order to preserve its role for future generations. Today, the collection – some of which is still stored in
Beaton’s original filing cabinets - is available for use as a picture library, lending images to be
reproduced on the printed page and for exhibition worldwide.
_______
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Press Inquires
Hilal Güntepe
Grup 7 / PR Consultancy
hguntepe@grup7.com.tr
(+ 90 212) 292 13 13
Meşrutiyet Caddesi No.65, 34443 Tepebaşı - Beyoğlu – İstanbul Tel. + 90 212 334 99 00, info@peramuzesi.org.tr
www.peramuzesi.org.tr