Is it worth to buy a book with photographs by Cecil Beaton?

[Godfrey]

Why do you care what other people think? You like some work, enough to buy it, great. Look at it, study it, figure out why you find it appealing. Learn from it.

You don't even have to like it forever. Taste changes over time as your eye becomes more discerning.

Take a class or read a book on art appreciation, learn to see with your own particular vision. That's a book worth having even if you like things that others say are junk.

I've neither heard of Cecil Beaton before nor seen his work, so I can't comment on him.

 

[andrewmore]

I'm not a great fan of his staged formal portrait work although it is technically very good - somehow too contrived perhaps? Worth studying and seeing though to make up your own mind - each to their own taste.

His wartime 'record' photography however I find excellent - there is an exhibition on this at the Imperial War Museum in London; well worth visiting. I still have a copy of one of his wartime books of photography that my late father would have acquired at the time when father was in the Navy - very interesting.

Regards

Andrew More

 

[zauhar]

Peter, I looked over some of his available images, certainly recognize some of his photos although I have not studied them. He produced a body of significant work and is clearly worth spending time on.

This site harbors a collection of grumpy old men whose bark is worse than their bite, don't be put off by the comments on your internet stylistics.

But confuse 'loose' with 'lose' and I will go f-cking apoplectic.

Randy

 

[Peter_wrote:]

simon, thank you very much for your tip. i will have a look.


@godfrey why not hear some advices or hints of people, which share the same interest and some of them maybe even they same taste.. i don't have to follow them blindly.but i don't know much about Beaton, so i just want to hear some opinions.
the problem is, i am undecided at the moment.when i had a quick look at the book, i thought that the photographs are technically superior but somehow superficial. but of course it was just a quick look.
i share your opinion about learning to see with your own particular vision

...it is technically very good - somehow too contrived perhaps?

yes, i thought something similiar in the bookshop today. that's why i am so undecided now.

His wartime 'record' photography however I find excellent

i think, the wartime photographs are in the book, too. so another point for buying the book.. hmm.

randy, thanks for sharing your thoughts about his photos.
and

This site harbors a collection of grumpy old men whose bark is worse than their bite, don't be put off by the comments on your internet stylistics.
But confuse 'loose' with 'lose' and I will go f-cking apoplectic.

Randy