Angus McBean: Portraits

by Angus McBean, Terence Pepper (Editor)

Cecil Beaton called him the best photographer in Britain; Lord Snowdon declared him a genius. It is no exaggeration to say that Angus McBean revolutionized portraiture in the 1930s, or that he immortalized the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, and Elizabeth Taylor. Blending wit, drama, and fantasy with the consummate skill of a master photographer, McBean was the most prominent theater photographer of his generation and, along with Beaton, the last of the British avant-garde studio photographers. For the first time since his death in 1990, McBean's photographs of stars such as Vivien Leigh, Peggy Ashcroft, Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, and Audrey Hepburn and his rarely seen color prints from the 1960s of the Beatles, Maria Callas, and Shirley Bassey are brought together in this fascinating book. Terence Pepper's intriguing account of McBean's life and work includes extracts from the photographer's unpublished autobiography. Terence Pepper is curator of photographs at the National Portrait Gallery in London. He is the author of The Man Who Shot The Photographs of Clarence Sinclair Bull, High Photographs 1897-1914, and monographs on Lewis Morley and Dorothy Wilding.

Genres: Photography, Art

172 pages, Hardcover

First published June 27, 2006

Reviews

[Adriana · Rating 4 out of 5]

More than just a collection of beautiful photographs this book gives you details on the subjects and how the photo came about.
It’s not a very thorough biography of the photographer – bare facts and a shorter-than-Wiki life story are the introduction before his work – but the quality of the prints and the glossary of the stories behind each one more than make up for it.
This is perhaps not the best book out there about McBean himself, but it’s definitely a great showing of his portrait work.

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Angus old bean you are a great portrait photographer. Cecil Beaton thinks you are (and he should know) and you almost go into the world of camp but somehow it goes beyond that. It is sort of a little theater and each character is taking part in a play of your choice. You are great. No doubt about that.