Two Sevgali School Girls

Cecil Beaton died nearly 40 years ago, but he remains as relevant now as he was in life. He was one of those extraordinary life-enhancers who lifted people out of their everyday lives and gave them something to dream about. Sotheby’s owns the magnificent archive of his life’s work as a photographer, from his earliest days until the last difficult years following his stroke. We think of Cecil Beaton first and foremost as a photographer, and he invested his photographs with style and glamour. There was also a strong element of theatricality. He liked to bring the best out of his sitters, so very often he dressed the set as in a stage production, to place them in context. His all seeing eye took in faults – he did not look at the world through rose-tinted spectacles – but having seen these faults, he disguised them by posing his sitters to their best effect.

Broad Chalke, UK