Photography in London, seen through an archway after an incendiary raid, 1940 After a short time in the family timber business, he worked with a cement merchant in
Holborn. This resulted in "an orgy of photography at weekends", so he decided to strike out on his own. Beaton's first camera was a
Box Brownie. Over the course of his career, he employed both
large format cameras, and smaller
Rolleiflex cameras. In his early career Beaton's first published photograph appeared in
British Vogue in April 1924, a portrait of academic
George "Dadie" Rylands, which earned him a modest fee but marked the start of his professional life in photography. After leaving Cambridge without a degree in 1925, he briefly worked on book jacket designs and theatrical costumes and learned photography at
Paul Tanqueray's studio. Under the patronage of
Osbert Sitwell he put on his first exhibition in the Cooling Gallery, London in 1927. That year, he began contributing regularly to
Vogue under
Condé Nast, quickly becoming a prolific and respected contributor who photographed high society figures, debutantes, and aristocratic circles. with Shah
Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and their daughter, Princess
Shahnaz Pahlavi, in
Tehran, 1942|262x262pxBelieving he would find greater success in the United States, Beaton moved to New York in 1928, gradually establishing his reputation. He thereafter spent part of each year working in the city, living in stylish hotel suites he redecorated in his "Japanese art nouveau" style in exchange for reduced rent., 1944|leftBeaton was renowned for his fashion photography and society portraits, capturing figures across British and international high society. He was a photographer for the
British edition of Vogue in 1931 when
George Hoyningen-Huene, photographer for
French Vogue, travelled to England with his new friend
Horst. Horst himself would begin to work for French
Vogue in November of that year. The exchange and cross pollination of ideas between this collegial circle of artists across the
Channel and the Atlantic gave rise to the look of style and sophistication associated with the 1930s. In addition to contributing extensively to
Vogue and working as a staff photographer for
Vanity Fair, and he also photographed Hollywood celebrities, including Katharine Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, and Audrey Hepburn, as well as prominent political and royal figures. In 1938, Beaton became embroiled in controversy when he inserted small but legible
anti-Semitic phrases, including the word "
kike," into an illustration in American
Vogue about New York society. The issue was recalled and reprinted, and Beaton was subsequently dismissed from the magazine. Beaton took over 7,000 photographs between 1940 and 1945 in Britain as well as in China and Africa. on her coronation day, 1953 During
World War II, Beaton was first posted to the MoI and given the task of recording images from the home front. During this assignment he captured one of the most enduring images of British suffering during the war, that of 3-year-old
Blitz victim Eileen Dunne recovering in hospital, clutching her beloved teddy bear. When the image was published, America had not yet joined the war, but images such as Beaton's helped push the Americans to put pressure on their government to help Britain in its hour of need. Beginning in the late 1930s, he developed a long-standing relationship with the royal household, photographing figures including
Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother)—his favourite royal sitter—and
Elizabeth II over several decades. His work ranged from highly staged, painterly compositions to more intimate portraits, balancing grandeur with accessibility; he once even kept the Queen Mother's scented handkerchief as a memento of a successful sitting. Beaton's images captured key moments, such as the 1953
coronation of Elizabeth II and portraits of the royal children. In 1951, Beaton published his memoir
Photobiography. To coincide with its release,
Vogue published a June 1951 photo spread highlighting his career, illustrating his progression from early society portraits to his later work in Hollywood, wartime photography, and official portraits of the British royal family. Furthermore, it was the first time a retrospective of a living photographer's work was shown at a British national museum. The exhibition, which was viewed by over 80,000 people, featured themed rooms with photographs of the royal family, war heroes, authors, composers, and celebrities. The exhibition travelled to the United States and was displayed as
600 Faces by Beaton 1928-69 at the
Museum of the City of New York in 1969. The exhibition proved so popular that it was extended for a month and subsequently toured the country under museum auspices. In Fall 2025, a scrapbook assembled by darkroom assistant Roland Haupt of unpublished photographs by Beaton and Lee Miller surfaced from a private collection; photography dealer Michael Hoppen arranged the sale of the scrapbook to the University of Oxford's Bodleian Libraries in April 2026. The scrapbook includes Beaton's pictures of North Africa, as well as theatre sets and newspaper cuttings.
Stage and film design Beaton combined wide-ranging interests with notable versatility, achieving success across multiple artistic fields. wearing a Beaton design in
My Fair Lady (1964), for which he won an
Academy Award for Best Costume Design His costumes for
Lerner and Loewe's musical play
My Fair Lady (1956) were highly praised. This led to him being the designer for two Lerner and Loewe film musicals,
Gigi (1958) and
My Fair Lady (1964), each of which earned Beaton the
Academy Award for Best Costume Design. He also designed the period costumes for
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. His additional Broadway credits include
The Grass Harp (1952),
The Chalk Garden (1955),
Saratoga (1959),
Tenderloin (1960), and
Coco (1969). He was the recipient of four
Tony Awards. He designed the sets and costumes for a production of
Giacomo Puccini's last opera
Turandot, first used at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and then at Covent Garden. Beaton designed the
academic dress of the
University of East Anglia.
Diaries Cecil Beaton was a published and well-known diarist. In his lifetime, six volumes of diaries were published, spanning the years 1922–1974. A more selective but unexpurgated edition was published in 2003.
Hugo Vickers, its editor, commented: "In the [earlier] 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." ==Later years and death==