Articles
Photograph signed Beken & Sons Cowes* representing a regatta of sailboats at sea: the Morwenna, the Princess Svanivet and the Veronica, signed lower right and numbered left 17974, from the 20th century.
This photograph is in good condition. She is under glass.
A note: wear of time on the frame, see photos.
Four generations of men have marked the history of sea photography of the Beken family. The story begins in 1888 when Alfred Edward Beken (1815-1915) moved from Canterbury (Kent), where he was born, to the Isle of Wight with his son Franck (1880-1970). There he buys a pharmacy in Birmingham Road on the seaport of Cowes. The city was already famous at the time for the organization of one of the oldest sailing races, the Cowes Week. Alfred and Franck therefore began to photograph cruising and racing yachts under sail, a real challenge at the time, while learning to find the best angle for the shots. The photos are sold as souvenirs, in the Bekens' pharmacy, alongside medicines and other perfumes. In the space of a few years, they attract the attention of yachting enthusiasts, and even the royal family of England, who come to visit the pharmacy. Queen Victoria, King George V and more recently the Duke of Edinburgh will award the company a Royal Warrant title, a symbol of British excellence. In the 1930s, Frank's son, Keith (1914 – 2007), took up the artistic torch of the Beken family. A chemist in his pocket, he was commander of an air-sea rescue helicopter in Cowes during the Second World War. He began photography by taking pictures of the famous Class J and began color photography in the 1950s. For several years, he photographed various sailing regattas, from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean. (Excerpt from boat site dot com).
