23 September 2011

Queen Elizabeth II by Cecil Beaton: A Diamond Jubilee Celebration; Friday September 30th to Sunday January 8th

Dundee is to be the first location to host the V&A’s exhibition of portraits of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by photographer Cecil Beaton.

Presenting highlights of the V&A’s collection of Beaton’s royal portraits, Queen Elizabeth II by Cecil Beaton: A Diamond Jubilee Celebration will depict the Queen in her roles as princess, monarch and mother.

The exhibition will run at The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery & Museum from Friday September 30th 2011 to Sunday January 8th 2012.

It 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.

The McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery and Museum is operated by Leisure & Culture Dundee, working in partnership with Dundee City Council.

Chair of Leisure & Culture Dundee Cllr Bob Duncan said: 'I am delighted that this exhibition is being staged in Dundee. It will act as an additional attraction to The McManus, which is a hugely popular destination in the City.

'People of Dundee and further afield are excited at the prospect of the V&A at Dundee, and this exhibition shows how the partnership is already delivering benefits.'

Philip Long, Director of the V&A at Dundee, said, 'It is great to see the first of the V&A exhibitions now in place and it is a real coup for Dundee, and for Scotland, that we are seeing this particular exhibition first, before it goes on show at the V&A in London.'

The images in the exhibition depict the Queen and royal family, contrasting highly staged state occasions with intimate family moments.

The exhibition charts how the representation of the royal family has changed and examines Beaton’s working methods, revealing him as one of the 20th century’s masters of photography.

Beaton was a celebrated photographer, designer and avid diarist. His royal portraits were among the most widely published photographs of the 20th century. The exhibition explores Beaton’s long relationship with Queen Elizabeth II, who was a teenage princess when she first sat for Beaton in 1942. Over the next three decades, Beaton photographed the Queen on many significant occasions including her Coronation Day.

The exhibition in Dundee features over 60 items, from wartime photographs of Princess Elizabeth, to tender images of the Queen with her young children. Glittering official portraits convey the magnitude of her role as Britain’s monarch. Elegant and highly-staged photographs are shown alongside informal glimpses of the royal family at home, interspersed with film and radio footage from the time.

The exhibition is arranged in five sections which span the 1930s to the 1960s, charting the shift in Beaton’s photographic style, from his early Rococo-inspired portraits to a starker approach in the 1960s. Beaton himself features in a series of portraits by his contemporaries, including David Bailey and Irving Penn.

An expanded exhibition will be hosted at the V&A in London from February 8th to April 22nd, 2012. The exhibition will then tour around the UK to Leeds City Museum, Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, and Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle.

Notes to Editors

• The exhibition curator is Susanna Brown, Curator of Photographs at the V&A
• The V&A is home to one of the largest and most important collections of photographs in the world, designated the UK’s National Collection of The Art of Photography. The Cecil Beaton collection of royal portraits was bequeathed to the V&A in 1987 by Eileen Hose, Beaton’s devoted secretary. It includes 18,000 original prints, transparencies and negatives and 45 scrapbooks of press cuttings.
• www.vam.ac.uk.

Dundee exhibition
Friday September 30th 2011 to Sunday January 8th 2012

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 exhibition run.

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

www.themcmanus-dundee.gov.uk.

Exhibition at The McManus: 3D design by kennedytwaddle architectural design.

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.

Earlier this year the Scottish Government announced it would provide total capital funding of £3.5 million in 2010/11 and 2011/12 towards the V&A project, with total revenue funding (to cover project running costs) of £1.28 million allocated in 2010/11 and 2011/12. The revenue funding supports staffing, marketing and fundraising for the project, and the development of what goes on inside the building - including the exhibitions that will run before the building is completed.

www.VandAatDundee.com.

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