A certain majesty comes to Dundee

Cecil Beaton took some of the most memorable photographs of the Queen, as one of the Royals’ favourite photographers. Now, in honour of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, a major exhibition of that work is going on display in Dundee

AFTER the abdication of Edward VIII, the Royal Family had a PR problem, and one of the people most influential in buffing up their tarnished image was photographer Cecil Beaton, whose work includes some of the most widely published photographs of the 20th century. Now, in honour of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, the V&A is mounting a gorgeous exhibition at the McManus Gallery in Dundee, chronicling Beaton’s long professional relationship with the Queen, which began when she was a teenager.

The exhibition is the first in a series of partnership projects between The McManus and the V&A, a programme of events in the build-up to the V&A opening in the city, which is scheduled for late 2014.

The Beaton exhibition features nearly 100 images, from wartime photographs of Princess Elizabeth to tender portraits of the Queen with her own children. Susanna Brown, the exhibition’s curator, says: “The V&A is home to a vast collection of royal portraits by Cecil Beaton – around 18,000 photographs, negatives and transparencies – many of which have been exhibited only rarely. With the Diamond Jubilee on the horizon, now seemed the perfect time to delve into this rich collection and to reassess Beaton’s role in helping to shape the public profile of Queen Elizabeth II over many years.”

In the book which will accompany the exhibition, Brown writes: “The opportunity, in 1939, to photograph Queen Elizabeth, Consort of King George VI, was the apotheosis of [his] career to date. The instant rapport that he struck up with the Queen resulted in Beaton remaining a favoured royal photographer for decades to come.”

Beaton’s biographer and literary executor, Hugo Vickers, tells me he’s not sure whether the photographer initially set out to try and redefine the monarchy, so much as take unusual, glamorous pictures of the Queen Mother: “Beaton turned her into a magnificent figure. Beforehand she had always been mousy, but suddenly she appeared in full glory.

“He glamorised people and loved theatre, and when he photographed Queen Elizabeth II, he wanted to make her look regal.”

But by taking photographs of the monarchs looking serene and elegant, and by capturing them en famille, he also created potent images of serenity that served to remind Britain why it was fighting in the Second World War.

Beaton once said of the Queen: “[Her] easy charm does not carry across in her photographs, and each time one sees her one is delighted to find how much more serene, magnetic, and at the same time meltingly sympathetic she is than one had imagined. One misses, even in colour photographs, the effect of the dazzlingly fresh complexion, the clear regard from the glass-blue eyes, and the gentle, all-pervading sweetness of her smile.”

In summing up Beaton’s great success as a royal photographer, Brown says: “It was a result of his ability to combine the traditions of historic, painted portraiture with the glamorous style of his fashion photographs – remember, he worked for Vogue for many years. His expertise as a theatre designer also impacted on his approach to portraiture, in particular his creation of photographic ‘sets’ in which to place the sitters.”

Certainly Beaton’s earliest photographs of the Queen resemble Gainsborough paintings, not only because they featured elaborate backdrops, but because many were taken in the formal reception rooms of Buckingham Palace. But from the 1960s onwards, his work became less formal and more intimate, especially when photographing the Queen with her children. “These portraits tend to be bolder and simpler,” says Brown. “In the 1960s Beaton photographed the Queen against a plain white backdrop, in keeping with the monarchy’s desire to appear more modern.”

It’s a great coup for Scotland that the exhibition kicks off here. Philip Long, director of V&A at Dundee, says, “It’s in Dundee first as a signal of the strength of the relationship between the V&A and Scotland. We want to continue to develop a pre-opening programme in Dundee, and potentially further afield. Over next four years or so, in the run-up to opening, there will be further significant exhibitions on a range of subjects organised as a collaboration between the McManus Gallery and the V&A in London. These will give an indication of the sorts of outstanding design exhibitions that people can expect from the V&A at Dundee when it opens.”

The Beaton exhibition’s timing couldn’t have been better from the museum’s perspective, since just last week the Scottish Government announced their capital commitment of £15 million, representing one third of the £45m building costs. “We are very grateful for that,” says Long. “Not only does it give us a very substantial financial foundation for the project but the indication of confidence from government sends a clear signal out about the fact that it will happen.” And this is only part of the growing buzz in and around Dundee, he points out. “There’s much broader development going on, especially along the waterfront, and there’s a sense that in ten years’ time, Dundee will be a very different place. There’s a great deal of investment in its contemporary activity and its future, and the V&A is at the forefront of those ambitions. When we open the Dundee institution it will be a place where people can see international design exhibitions that it would be hard to see outside London otherwise, and it will also celebrate Scotland’s own design heritage and provide creative opportunities for everyone from professional designers to school children to get involved.”

• Queen Elizabeth II by Cecil Beaton: A Diamond Jubilee Celebration, opens at the McManusArt Gallery and Museum, Albert Square, Meadowside, from 30 September through 8 January 2012. For more information about hours, visit www.themcmanus-dundee.gov.uk. At 6pm on Saturday 8 October, acclaimed biographer Hugo Vickers explores Beaton’s development as a royal photographer and his unique relationship with Queen Elizabeth II. Admission is Free, but ticketed, via: www.VandAatDundee.com/your-future/whats-on/ or call 01382 388154. Please note that overflow theatres will be in operation.