MY FAIR LADY, 1964/CECIL BEATON
MY FAIR LADY, 1964/CECIL BEATON
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MY FAIR LADY, 1964/CECIL BEATON

细节
MY FAIR LADY, 1964/CECIL BEATON
An autograph letter, signed, from Cecil Beaton to Audrey Hepburn on Hotel Bel-Air, Los Angeles headed stationery [n.d. but circa May, 1963], the letter in blue ink on four pages of a sheet of folded notepaper, written during pre-production on My Fair Lady, opening Darling Audrey, Your enthusiasm & gratitude are rare! How wonderful to work for someone as understanding, appreciative & imaginative as you. I am pleased you are so happy about the whole project. It's a crowning point of your already brilliant career but to know how lovely the opportunity is & to savour it - takes a person like you to understand, Beaton thanks her for her kind words As for all the nice things you say about me I am really proud - but it is going to be very difficult to live up to such praise - & you must help me, Beaton goes on to express how glad he is that she liked Lily Elsie's necklace and invites Audrey and Mel to the first Los Angeles performance of the Royal Ballet's Marguerite and Armand [designed by Beaton], the letter finishing ...Am so looking forward to your arrival but at the same time getting rather alarmed about it - as from that moment on I know the rush will be on for sure!, signed With blessing & love from Cecil
6 ¾ x 5 ¼ in. (17.1 x 13.3 cm.)
注意事项
These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

拍品专文

On first meeting Audrey at a London party, following the release of Roman Holiday, Cecil Beaton wrote in his diary Audrey's enormous potential cinema success, with attendant salary, seem to have made little impression on this delightful human being. She appears to take wholesale adoration with a pinch of salt; gratitude rather than puffed-up pride... In a flash I discovered Audrey Hepburn is chock-a-block with spritelike charm... we liked one another. A chord had been struck and I knew that, next time we met, we would continue straight from here... This was a unique occasion.

A decade later they would collaborate on what would be one of the most significant projects in both of their careers - My Fair Lady. Beaton had designed the costumes for the stage production and was now tasked with creating the entire 'look' of the film adaptation. The project was a dream for Beaton, who had written an article for Vogue in 1930 on Ascots of the Past and would now be living out his Edwardian fantasy. He flew to Hollywood in February 1963 to stark work on the 1000 costumes required.

Beaton here makes reference to Edwardian stage actress and famous beauty Lily Elsie, who he had worshipped as a child and became a loyal friend to in troubled later years. Beaton's letter suggests that Elsie left him some jewellery on her death in 1962, which he likely gifted to Audrey in preparation for her Edwardian transformation.

Beaton's diary entry of 18th May 1963 relates Audrey's first visit to the wardrobe department on arrival in Los Angeles: She wanted to pose for photographs in every one of them. "I don't want to play Eliza! She doesn't have enough pretty clothes. I want to parade in all these. Later Hepburn would parade in all the most glamorous Ascot costumes for a shoot with Beaton for US Vogue, December 1963 (see lots 183-188 and 191). The dazzlingly spectacular Ascot scene, which alone would require 400 magnificent gowns and an enormous bespoke set, was Beaton's masterpiece - he went on to win two Oscars for his work on the film.

更多来自 AUDREY HEPBURN: PART I

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