7 October 2011

Hugo Vickers - The Queen & Cecil Beaton - public lecture Sat Oct 8th

Hugo Vickers - The Queen & Cecil Beaton
Public lecture - 6 pm, Saturday October 8th
Dalhousie Building,
University of Dundee

Hugo Vickers, biographer of Cecil Beaton and an acknowledged expert on the Royal Family, will give a public lecture in Dundee tomorrow as part of the events surrounding the V&A exhibition 'Queen Elizabeth II by Cecil Beaton: A Diamond Jubilee Celebration'.

Dundee is the first location to host the V&A's exhibition of portraits of Her Majesty The Queen by photographer Cecil Beaton, to celebrate The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Presenting highlights of the V&A's archive of Beaton's royal photography, Queen Elizabeth II by Cecil Beaton: A Diamond Jubilee Celebration will depict The Queen in her roles as princess, monarch and mother.

The exhibition opened at The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery & Museum last week and will run until Sunday January 8th.

Cecil Beaton photographed some of the most fascinating, evocative and important characters of the 20th century. A teenage princess when she first sat for him in 1942, the Queen was photographed by Beaton on many significant occasions, including her Coronation Day.

In his talk Hugo Vickers will explore Beaton’s development as a royal photographer, the role he played in portraying The Queen and the long relationship between photographer and regal model.

Hugo Vickers is an expert on Cecil Beaton, giving five years of his life to reading all 150 of Beaton’s diaries. He is Cecil Beaton's authorised biographer and literary executor. Also an acknowledged expert on the Royal Family, Vickers is frequently called to comment on royal matters.

The lecture takes place at 6pm tomorrow (Saturday 8th October) in the Dalhousie Building at the University of Dundee.

All are welcome to attend and admission is free. Tickets can be booked in advance, online at www.VandAatDundee.com/your-future/whats-on/ or by calling 01382 385108.

Due to demand, overflow theatres may be in operation.

`Queen Elizabeth II by Cecil Beaton: A Diamond Jubilee Celebration’ is the first in a series of partnership projects between The McManus and the V&A, as part of the pre-opening programme for the V&A at Dundee.

Notes to Editors

• The exhibition curator is Susanna Brown, Curator of Photographs at the V&A
• The V&A has the oldest museum photography collection in the world and holds the UK’s national collection of photography. The Cecil Beaton collection of royal portraits was bequeathed to the V&A in 1987. It includes 18,000 original prints, transparencies and negatives and 45 volumes of press cuttings.

Dundee exhibition
Friday September 30th to Sunday January 8th
The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery & Museum

Admission Free. Opening times: Mon to Sat 10am - 5pm, Sun 12.30 - 4.30pm.

Thursday late opening until 8pm - specially for the Beaton exhibition run.

Exhibition organised by the V&A, London in partnership with the V&A at Dundee.

www.themcmanus-dundee.gov.uk

V&A at Dundee
The V&A at Dundee is being delivered by Design Dundee Ltd, a ground-breaking partnership between the Victoria and Albert Museum - the world’s greatest museum of art and design - and Dundee City Council, the Universities of Dundee and Abertay Dundee, and Scottish Enterprise.

Exhibition Publication
V&A Publishing has produced a hardback book to accompany the exhibition authored by Susanna Brown, with contributions from Sir Roy Strong and Mario Testino. For further press information about the book, contact Julie Chan on 020 7942 2701.

For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07800 581902