The Curious Mr. McBean

A retrospective, Angus McBean: Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery in London, brings together over 100 photographs including his striking surrealist portraits of the 1930s and his period as indisputably the most important photographer of theatre and dance personalities of the 1940s and 1950s. Highlights of the exhibition include the iconic 1951 photograph of the then unknown Audrey Hepburn, and also portraits of Marlene Dietrich, Mae West, and Katharine Hepburn. The exhibition also features several defining portraits of Vivien Leigh, whom McBean photographed many times over the course of their thirty-year association. The photographer’s torrid arrest and glamorous yet unapologetic lifestyle are detailed in the The Sunday Times.