A Team Trip to the Beaton Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery
WORDS BY TOM CRONK & CHARLIE GLADSTONEBeaton was Charlie’s great uncle and a regular visitor to Hawarden. Charlie’s maternal grandmother Baba was Cecil’s sister and early muse.
Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World at the National Portrait Gallery: This is a full, balanced and beautifully designed exhibition about the ‘King of Vogue’. Everything about this show is pitch perfect, from the colour of the walls to the selection of images. Highly recommended.
- Charlie Gladstone
It’s a Wednesday lunchtime in central London, and The Good Life Society team are converging on the National Portrait Gallery, just off Trafalgar Square.
We’re here for Beaton, of course.
This being one of three exhibitions running in 2025 on the great polymath himself: one at the NPG, one at the Garden Museum across The Thames and, the most intimate of the three, another being hosted with us here in Hawarden; a family archive.
“Cecil Beaton (1904-1980) was one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century. His clients included royalty, actors, artists, politicians, socialites, pop stars and fashion models. But Cecil did more than record the appearance of his sitters: he captured their character and shaped their public image.”
It’s no surprise that Beaton’s seismic pull remains resolute, even 45 years on from his death. The gallery is bustling. I would estimate a few hundred keen visitors meandered through the exhibition during an hour or so. A vibrant turnout for a ticketed, autumnal, grey, midday, midweek showing.
The exhibition works its way through many rooms and the many colours, eras, mediums and controversies of Beaton’s iconic career. It’s elevated and decidedly chic, of course, but the large scale commentary offered throughout brings clarity and encourages intrigue to aficionados and laymen alike.
We exited through the gift shop (I’ll always think of Banksy), to browse the Luke Edward Hall collection pulled together exclusively for the exhibition. The Boy Wonder green totes and pink caps catch the eye for a simple “I was there” memento.
Exhibition complete and minds full of event installation ideas, a few of us say our goodbyes and head for lunch as Charlie and Caroline make their way to another exhibition, Peter Doig: House of Music at the Serpentine Gallery.
We wander the streets of Soho on the hunt for an easy lunch and settle on ramen. Then, with an hour to kill before the train home, we head to the Instagram influencer’s institution that is The Devonshire for a pint of Guinness (or 0.0). For a place that really shouts about serving 20,000 pints of the stuff per week(!), and is often claimed as offering up ‘the best Guinness in London’, I found it decidedly normal. Not bad by any means, just not the best.
Grumpy beer reviews aside, the day was joyful, interesting, fun, educational and left us fizzing with ideas for future projects. The exhibition runs until 11th January 2026, so do drop in if you can.
Or, better yet, book a stay at The West End of Hawarden Castle for your own private exhibition of Beatonalia, hand-annotated by Charlie.
