Beaton is well-known both as a fashion and society photographer, and as a stage and film designer: his sets for My Fair Lady (1964) established him as a master of black and white. He studied at Cambridge University and during the second world war was commissioned to document war on the home front. The photographs here of his two sisters, Nancy and Baba, were included in a British Council exhibition, Personal Views (1978), selected by the artist with Bill Jay, a writer who went on to become editor of Creative Camera. Beaton chose four previously unpublished works of his own family for the exhibition, all taken when he was between 11 and 17 years old. Although these rarely shown works date from his adolescence, they reveal his innate understanding of composition and how a work can be manipulated and enhanced in the dark room to improve their visual effect.

Thresholds, British Council, 2010