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Contemporary New York City-based artist Mark Beard has long demonstrated command in a variety of mediums — he works in oil paint, bronze, ceramics and more. Beard is known mainly for his portraits and figurative paintings, but he is prolific in figurative drawing and nude photography as well.
Beard was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1986, he began working as a set designer, and for the next decade, he created more than 20 sets in New York City, London, Frankfurt, Vienna and Cologne. As a painter and printmaker, Beard didn’t wish to confine himself to a rigid style and instead sought to explore Impressionism, Art Nouveau and other movements in a range of mediums. In order to freely move from one style to the next, Beard created several different personas, assigning a specific biography to each one.
Beard's most prominent artistic alter ego is Bruce Sargeant, whom the artist has positioned in exhibitions as an early 20th-century painter. Beard's work as Sargeant is a detailed study of the male physique. The paintings often feature sculpted athletic men engaged in physical activities like wrestling and rowing. The work is steeped in homoeroticism, and the artist’s name itself is a reference to painter John Singer Sargent — while he’s best known for his Edwardian-era portraits, John Singer Sargent also created murals and drawings of male nudes that were similarly reflective of a homoerotic sensibility.
Beard is also an accomplished landscape painter. His great-grandfather, George Beard, was a regional painter and photographer of the Rocky Mountains. Mark spent summers at his grandfather's 19th-century log cabin retreat as a child. These formative experiences are reflected in his own stunning landscape paintings.
Beard's artwork is held in many high-profile museum collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Today, Beard resides in the Manhattan loft that he purchased in 1994 with his partner, James Manfred. It serves as both his home and his studio. The space is filled with his oil paintings, drawings and sculptures.
On 1stDibs, find Mark Beard paintings, drawings, photography and more.
Tim
By Mark Beard
Located in New York, NY
Tim 1998 Signed, dated, and inscribed “AP” in pencil, recto Polaroid transfer on Rives BFK paper 22 x 15 inches, sheet 9 x 6.75 inches, image This work is offered by ClampArt in ...
Polaroid
Two Men with a Diver
By Mark Beard
Located in New York, NY
This work is offered by CLAMP in New York City.
Oil, Canvas
Untitled
By Mark Beard
Located in New York, NY
Untitled 1993 Signed and dated, l.r. Charcoal with red and white conté crayon on Rives BFK paper 30 x 18 inches $1,600 This work is offered by CLAMP in New York City.
Conté, Charcoal, Paper
Sleeve (#146)
By Jack Balas
Located in New York, NY
Sleeve (#146) 2006 Signed, titled, and dated, verso Oil and enamel on canvas 48 x 56 inches This work is offered by CLAMP in New York City.
Enamel
Untitled No. 51
By Mark Beard
Located in New York, NY
Polaroid transfer on Rives BFK paper Signed, dated, and numbered in pencil, recto Also blindstamped, l.r. 22 x 15 inches, sheet 10 x 8 inches, image This artwork is offered by Clam...
Photogravure
Untitled
By Stuart Klein
Located in New York, NY
Acrylic and acrylic ink on paper Signed in pencil, verso 10.5 x 8 inches, sheet 18.5 x 16 inches, frame This work is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. Price includes frame.
Paper, Acrylic, Ink
Our Legacy of Engagement
By Adam Mysock
Located in New Orleans, LA
after: “La Lutte” by Émile Friant, 1889 Framed: 10h x 8.50w in As I’ve gotten older, I’ve been particularly struck by the staggering number of unintende...
Acrylic, Panel
Untitled
Located in Palm Desert, CA
A painting by Krisjanis Kaktins-Gorsline. “Untitled” is a contemporary figurative painting, oil on canvas by Canadian Conceptual artist Krisjanis Kaktins-Gorsline. The artwork is sig...
Oil
Three Perspectives
By Eric BESS
Located in Atlanta, GA
Helene and Eric Bess are a team who have been collaborating for over 20 years. Both are professional artists with extensive experience in both the commercial and fine art fields. They presently work out of their studio in Florida, creating original art for gallery display, fine art crafts and taking commissions for murals & embellishments. Helene was born in Canada in 1949. She studied art in Europe as a young adult and attended Phoenix Pratt School of Design in New York and St. Petersburg Community College in Florida. She worked for advertising agencies and freelance art projects such as theater design and t-shirt designs for several companies. She owned and operated an art studio (“Artistic Endeavors”) in Melbourne, Fl. for five years. She started doing murals and embellishments (residential and commercial) from 1992 till present. She considers her early life in Europe the major source of her artistic influence as well as the works of Modigliani. Eric was born in Missouri in 1950. He started drawing literally as an infant and has never stopped. He was taking commissions for book covers & wall designs in his teens and studied art at Auburn University and The University of Alabama. He taught art in public schools in Alabama in the ‘70s. He worked as art director at Huntsville Educational Television for 6 years, as art director at Southern Sportswear in Daytona for 9 years, at Creative Signs & Designs in Flagler, Fl. for 6 years, and as a freelance artist and co-owner (with his wife Helene) of “BessStudio” (formerly “Artistic Innovations Inc.”) since 1998. His artistic influences include Michelangelo, Vermeer, Blake, Maxfield Parish...
Mixed Media
Jazz Men
Located in Fort Lauderdale, FL
Mixed Media House Paint on wood and carpet on laid fabric 37 x 32 in
Acrylic, Fabric, Wood, House Paint, Wood Panel, Cardboard
Untitled
Located in PARIS, FR
Mixed Technique Collage, Textile, Acrylic on Canvas
Textile, Acrylic
The Boys are Back
By Kevin Sonmor
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Kevin Sonmor’s heroic, post-apocalyptic paintings […] reference dark brooding abstract landscapes animated with tight, intensely coloured, realistically ordered still-lifes. Hints of...
Linen, Oil
The French photographer transformed everyday encounters into enduring images of shared experience.
The New York photographer tells us how an encounter with the then-13-year-old boxer led to a decade-long project that saw them both go pro.
