Review: Cecil Beaton’s Garden Party

@The Garden Museum

By Erin Deborah Waks

It might not sound very high-brow, but my obsession with Cecil Beaton began when his character appeared, played by Christopher Harper, in the TV series Upstairs, Downstairs. I was completely taken with this enigmatic, camp and impossibly stylish young photographer. Yes, it’s a fictionalised account, but I was enraptured by the charm of the artist and his ability to make even the most ordinary of subjects beautiful.

It seems I am not alone. This year in London there is not one, but two exhibitions dedicated to the talented artist. I had to explore.

The first was The Garden Museum’s exploration of Beaton’s work not only as a photographer. While the so-called ‘King of Vogue’ was largely known for his photographic work, he had multiple talents, and this exhibit puts on display his costume and set designs for film, theatre and ballet as well as his drawings and sketches.

Curated by Garden Museum Curator Emma House and designed by artist and designer Luke Edward Hall, the single-room exhibit uses its small space to pack a very floral punch. Tracing Beaton’s home life and creative work through its focus on gardens and flowers, it chooses an apt base in this small yet impossibly beautiful museum, housed in a former church.

With a mixture of famous photographs - such as those of the Royal Family - intimate letters and images of his own home life and his theatrical designs, it’s a small but mighty display. While you’re there, be sure to grab a coffee in the museum’s courtyard cafe. It’s almost like stepping into one of Beaton’s own photographs.

I look forward to the National Portrait Gallery’s take on the artist later this year, Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World: Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World - National Portrait Gallery.