"Persona Grata is a stylish and unconventional collaboration between celebrated photographer Cecil Beaton and influential drama critic Kenneth Tynan, first published in 1953. Combining Beaton's elegant portrait photography with Tynan's witty and perceptive essays, the book presents a curated gallery of prominent cultural figures from the worlds of theatre, literature, film, music, fashion, and the arts. Rather than attempting a formal encyclopaedia of celebrity, the authors instead focus on personalities they admired for their individuality, charm, intelligence, talent, and theatrical flair.
The volume features portraits and commentary on many notable mid-century figures, capturing the atmosphere of post-war artistic and intellectual society in Britain, Europe, and America. Beaton's photographs are characteristically sophisticated and atmospheric, while Tynan's accompanying text provides sharp, often humorous insights into the personalities and creative achievements of the subjects. Together they create an engaging portrait of a cosmopolitan cultural world populated by actors, writers, directors, dancers, designers, and social figures who shaped the artistic life of the era.
Beautifully designed throughout under Beaton's artistic direction, Persona Grata is regarded as both a photography book and an important cultural snapshot of the 1950s creative elite. The First Edition published by Allan Wingate in London remains particularly collectible, especially in original dust jacket. Today the work appeals strongly to collectors of theatre history, photography, fashion, celebrity portraiture, and mid-century design, as well as admirers of Cecil Beaton's distinctive visual style and Kenneth Tynan's literary criticism."
