Autograph Letter Signed, to Tamara, Framed with Photographic Portrait
- 1 vols
- 1950
1950. 1 vols. One leaf, recto only, on personal stationery; rust stain from paper clip top left; framed with black-and-white portrait of Beaton. 1 vols. Vaynol — also spelled Faenol — was the Welsh estate of the unconventional Sir Michael and Lady Caroline Duff. Dating from the Tudor period, and surrounded by a seven-mile stone wall, the house was the site of frequent visits by such esteemed guests as the Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth, Lord Snowdon (Sir Michael's godson), Princess Margaret, Prime Minster Harold Macmillan, and Cecil Beaton, who took many of the photographs in the family's private album.
Here, Beaton notes on the estate's stationery that he was "staying in a huge house party for the New Year & it is very gay and pleasant." While the letter is undated, it was likely penned during the 1950s, following the 1949 marriage of Sir Michael and Lady Caroline, who were famous for their lavish parties. The recipient — to whom Beaton writes, "I shall hope to see you in England again this Spring if not in America before" — is possibly the painter Tamara de Lempicka, whom Beaton had photographed in the 1930s, and who lived in New York City from 1943 until the early 1960s.
Paired with a later 1978 photographic portrait of Beaton by Arnold Newman.
Here, Beaton notes on the estate's stationery that he was "staying in a huge house party for the New Year & it is very gay and pleasant." While the letter is undated, it was likely penned during the 1950s, following the 1949 marriage of Sir Michael and Lady Caroline, who were famous for their lavish parties. The recipient — to whom Beaton writes, "I shall hope to see you in England again this Spring if not in America before" — is possibly the painter Tamara de Lempicka, whom Beaton had photographed in the 1930s, and who lived in New York City from 1943 until the early 1960s.
Paired with a later 1978 photographic portrait of Beaton by Arnold Newman.