Artist Analysis: Cecil Beaton

This is one of the pieces of photography from Cecil Beaton's work. As he was a celebrity 'social' photographer I don't know if he gave titles to his photography. If I had to give a title to this photo, I would call it 'This is My Man Face'  because the photo looks staged like he was told to stand there and look stern. So why not choose a name so blatant and ironic such as 'This is My Man Face' when in reality it looks like he is actually trying to look manly in the photo.

Read more after the jump.

This photos composition is pretty basic; nothing about it stands will stand out to the viewer. Well, of course that is if you are not one who appreciates minimalism as art. I, however, do. I like that the model is positioned right in the centre of the rule of thirds and he is looking straight ahead. The visual elements of this photo are hard and outstanding in the sense that the scene really stands out to me as one of a well thought out concept. This is because of how the run-down walls contrast against his unstructured shirt and oversized trousers, which was the young hipsters choice of formal clothes in the 40 & 50's.

I don't think this photo is trying to tell you a story but when I look at it I can imagine a whole world of storytelling to pin up against it. To me, it looks like it could be a storyboard from a action-crime film. It could be a point of view shot from a woman's perspective. Or even a point of view shot from his enemies perspective. It is a very ambiguous shot and I like it for that very reason.

The photo is realistic but I think that it is a very weird angle to shoot from. Beaton has shot this photo straight-on. Photos tend to have some degree of rotation or a tilt or some sort of distortion. Where as this photo is shot straight-on and the model is looking right into the camera lens. Perhaps Beaton was trying to pay homage to the Art Deco work of the French or to the German Expressionism from the beginning of the century.

I personally like this photo because of its use of realism, smart composition and its ambiguity. I may use this for inspiration later on.