Twiggy by Cecil Beaton (1967)

Twiggy, Vogue October 1967, Cecil Beaton via

Vintage Portraits of British Princesses by Cecil Beaton

Princess Elizabeth by Cecil Beaton, Gelatin silver print, Buckingham Palace, March 1945. Museum no. E.1361-2010, © V&A Images via

Princess Margaret by Cecil Beaton bromide print, 1950 20 3/4 in. x 15 7/8 in. (527 mm x 403 mm) Purchased, 1987 NPG P349 © V&A Images via

Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent by Cecil Beaton bromide print on white card mount, 1939 9 7/8 in. x 8 in. (252 mm x 203 mm) Given by Cecil Beaton, 1968 NPG x21151 © V&A Images via

Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester by Cecil Beaton bromide print on white card mount, 1961 8 3/4 in. x 5 7/8 in. (223 mm x 150 mm) Given by Cecil Beaton, 1968
NPG x35198 © V&A Images via

Surreal Vignette by Cecil Beaton (1936)

Ruth Ford (1911-2009) was an American model and stage and film actress. As a model she posed for Harper’s, Town and Country and Mademoiselle. She was best known for the salon she created at her beautiful, art-lined Manhattan apartment, frequented by the likes of William Faulkner, Cecil Beaton, Truman Capote and Andy Warhol (source).

Her brother was the bohemian surrealist Charles Henri Ford.

Cecil Beaton Surreal Vignette, Ruth Ford with tapemeasure. 1936 via

Cecil Beaton Surreal Vignette, Ruth Ford with tapemeasure. 1936 via

Cecil Beaton Surreal Vignette, Ruth Ford with tapemeasure. 1936 via

Cecil Beaton Surreal Vignette, Ruth Ford with tapemeasure. 1936 via

Anita Loos and Cecil Beaton in Palm Beach (1930)

Anita Loos and Cecil Beaton in Palm Beach, 1930 via

 

Julie Andrews by Cecil Beaton (1960s)

Julie Andrews by Cecil Beaton, 1960s via

Julie Andrews by Cecil Beaton, 1960s via

Graceful and Elegant Photos of Greta Garbo by Cecil Beaton (1946)

Greta Garbo by Cecil Beaton, 1946 © Cecil Beaton Studio Archive, Sotheby’s London via

Greta Garbo by Cecil Beaton, 1946 © Cecil Beaton Studio Archive, Sotheby’s London via

Greta Garbo by Cecil Beaton, 1946 © Cecil Beaton Studio Archive, Sotheby’s London via

Greta Garbo by Cecil Beaton, 1946 © Cecil Beaton Studio Archive, Sotheby’s London via

Greta Garbo by Cecil Beaton, 1946 © Cecil Beaton Studio Archive, Sotheby’s London via

Greta Garbo by Cecil Beaton, 1946 © Cecil Beaton Studio Archive, Sotheby’s London via

Greta Garbo by Cecil Beaton, 1946 © Cecil Beaton Studio Archive, Sotheby’s London via

Greta Garbo by Cecil Beaton, 1946 © Cecil Beaton Studio Archive, Sotheby’s London via

Barbara Hutton wearing the amazing Romanov Tiara (1961)

Barbara Woolworth Hutton (November 14, 1912 – May 11, 1979) was an American debutante/socialite, heiress and philanthropist. She was dubbed the “Poor Little Rich Girl”, first when she was given a lavish and expensive debutante ball in 1930, amid the Great Depression, and later due to a notoriously troubled private life.

Over the years she personally acquired a magnificent collection of her own which included the spectrum of arts, porcelain, valuable jewelry, including elaborate historic pieces that had once belonged to Marie Antoinette and Empress Eugénie of France, and important pieces by Fabergé and Cartier. 

Her emerald tiara was made by Cartier from the Grand Duchess Vladimir’s emeralds.

Cecil Beaton, Portrait of Barbara Hutton wearing The Romanov Tiara. The Romanov Tiara was created with Romanov emeralds in 1947, Sidi Hosni, Tangier, Morocco, 1961 via

Cecil Beaton, Portrait of Barbara Hutton wearing both the Pasha Diamond Ring and Romanov Tiara. The Romanov Tiara was created with Romanov emeralds in 1947, Sidi Hosni, Tangier, Morocco, 1961 via

Maria Callas by Cecil Beaton (1957)

Portrait of Maria Callas by Cecil Beaton, 1957 via

Portrait of Maria Callas by Cecil Beaton, 1957 via

Marlene Dietrich in New York by Cecil Beaton (1935)

Cecil Beaton came to New York in 1928. Through personal connections he gained access to some of Hollywood’s biggest stars–including Marlene Dietrich (source).

Portrait of Marlene Dietrich in New York by Cecil Beaton, 1935 via

Portrait of Marlene Dietrich in New York by Cecil Beaton, 1935 via

Vintage Photos of Bloomsbury Clique Society Hostess Lady Ottoline Morrell

Lady Ottoline Violet Anne Morrell (1873 – 1938) was an English aristocrat and society hostess. She was part of the literary Bloomsbury clique, along with Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West, Lytton Strachey, Clive and Vanessa Bell, E.M. Forster and more.

Perhaps Lady Ottoline’s most interesting literary legacy is the wealth of representations of her that appear in 20th-century literature. She was the inspiration for Mrs Bidlake in Aldous Huxley’s Point Counter Point, for Hermione Roddice in D. H. Lawrence’s Women in Love, for Lady Caroline Bury in Graham Greene’s It’s a Battlefield, and for Lady Sybilline Quarrell in Alan Bennett’s Forty Years On. The Coming Back (1933), another novel which portrays her, was written by Constance Malleson, one of Ottoline’s many rivals for the affection of Bertrand Russell. Some critics consider her the inspiration for Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley. Huxley’s roman à clef, Crome Yellow depicts the life at a thinly-veiled Garsington, one of her estates.

Non-literary portraits are also part of this interesting legacy, for example, as seen in the artistic photographs of her by Cecil Beaton. There are portraits by Henry Lamb, Duncan Grant, Augustus John, and others. Carolyn Heilbrun edited Lady Ottoline’s Album (1976), a collection of snapshots and portraits of Morrell and of her famous contemporaries, mostly taken by Morrell herself.

Portrait of Lady Ottoline Morrell by George Charles Beresford, 4 June 1903 via

Lady Ottoline Morrell by Cavendish Morton platinum print, 1905 via

Portrait of Lady Ottoline Morrell by Adolf de Meyer, c. 1912 via

Lady Ottoline Morrell by Baron Adolph de Meyer
platinum print, 1912 via

Lady Ottoline Morrell, by Cecil Beaton, 1927 © Cecil Beaton Studio Archive, Sotheby’s London via

Lady Ottoline Morrell, 1929 via

Lady Ottoline Morrell in her bedroom at Amerongen, 1925 via