Cecil Beaton

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Cecil Beaton

by Frank Owen Dobson
bronze bust, 1930
18 1/2 in. x 14 3/4 in. (470 mm x 375 mm) overall
Purchased, 2016
Primary Collection
NPG 7014

Sitterback to top

  • Cecil Beaton (1904-1980), Photographer, designer and writer. Sitter associated with 360 portraits, Artist or producer associated with 1114 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • Frank Owen Dobson (1886-1963), Sculptor. Artist or producer of 8 portraits, Sitter in 18 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This bronze bust of Cecil Beaton by Frank Dobson was commissioned by the sitter. The portrait shows Beaton with his hand against his face and has an expressive and informal quality, characteristic of Dobson’s work. Beaton took a number of photographs during the sitting, some of which are in the National Portrait Gallery collection, showing Dobson in his Chelsea studio surrounded by work, and in one image, he leans against the unfinished plaster head. Beaton also recorded the sitting in his diary: ‘I had a pleasant afternoon at Frank Dobson’s studio, sitting for my almost completed bust ... Afterwards I pottered about among the discarded plaster casts, unearthing heads of Tallulah, Osbert and Lopokova.’

Placesback to top

Events of 1930back to top

Current affairs

Amy Johnson is the first woman to fly solo to Australia. She flew the 11,000 miles from Croydon to Darwin in a De Havilland Gipsy Moth named Jason and won the Harmon Trophy as well as a CBE for her achievement. She went on to break a number of other flying records, and died while serving in the Air Transport Auxiliary in 1941.

Art and science

Noel Coward's play, Private Lives is first performed. The original run starred Gertrude Lawrence and Laurence Olivier as well as Coward himself. Private Lives became Coward's most enduringly successful play.

International

Gandhi leads the Salt March. The march to the coast was a direct protest against the British monopoly on the sale of salt and inspired hordes of Indians to follow him and adopt his methods of Satyagraha (non-violent resistance to the British rule of India).
Stalin orders the 'liquidation of the kulaks (wealthy farmers) as a class' in a violent attempt to centralise control of agriculture and collectivise farming.

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