Identity area
Reference code
Beaton/A/A2/14a/73
Unique identifier
Title
Date(s)
- 19 Dec. 1949 (Circa. Letter dated 'Dec 19th - new moon'. Year deduced from content and new moon.) (Creation)
Level of description
Item
Extent and medium
3 p. paper
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Photographer, artist, writer, and designer of scenery and costumes. Educated at Harrow and St John's College, Cambridge, 1922-5. Made his name as a photographer through portraits of the Sitwells. Employed by Vogue in London and New York. Published 'The Book of Beauty' (1930). Photographed the Duke of Windsor's wedding, 1937. War photographer, 1939-45. Designed 'Lady Windermere's Fan', 1945. Designed costumes for 'An Ideal Husband' and 'Anna Karenina', 1948. Worked on 'The School for Scandal', 1949, 'Quadrille' for Noel Coward, 1952, 'Turandot', 1961, and 'La Traviata', 1966. Designed costumes for 'My Fair Lady', 1956, and for the film version in Hollywood, 1963. His play 'The Gainsborough Girls', 1951 and 1959, was unsuccessful. Published 'The Glass of Fashion' (1954), and six volumes of diaries. Exhibited photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, 1968. Knighted 1972.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Sends seasonal Greetings from Richmond. Describes the cold and his room in the hotel. Describes medical treatment he is receiving. Expresses his confidence in Dr Gottfried. Describes Richmond. Lists his purchases from an antique shop. Plans to go to Michael [Duff] in Wales after five days of treatment. Distressed by his mother's suffering. Plans to travel to America with Ann Rot--? on the Queen Mary, arriving on 9 January and staying for six weeks. Hopes to see Garbo then. Hopes also that she will visit England when the tulips flower. Expresses Impatience for his play writing efforts to bear fruit.