Peter Beard Signed
1970s Contemporary Animal Prints
Lithograph, Offset
Early 2000s Realist Portrait Photography
Photographic Paper, C Print
Late 20th Century Contemporary Animal Prints
Black and White
Recent Sales
1970s Contemporary Color Photography
Photographic Film, Ink
1960s Contemporary Black and White Photography
Photographic Film, Silver Gelatin
20th Century American Modern Photography
Paper
20th Century American Modern Photography
Paper
People Also Browsed
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Brass
2010s Chinese Books
Paper
2010s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary English Folk Art Side Tables
Iron
1970s Modern Color Photography
Lambda
Antique 17th Century Japanese Edo Lacquer
Copper, Gold
1990s Books
Paper
2010s Belgian Modern Sofas
Linen
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Metal
2010s Belgian Modern Club Chairs
Linen
2010s American Minimalist Beds and Bed Frames
Plywood
Antique 18th Century American Sterling Silver
Sterling Silver
Early 20th Century American Chairs
Iron
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
Walnut
Vintage 1950s French Ceramics
Ceramic
Vintage 1970s French Mid-Century Modern Decorative Art
Porcelain
Peter Beard for sale on 1stDibs
Reckless, uninhibited and brazen, photographer Peter Beard was, as The Washington Post put it, “as wild as the animals he photographed.” Beard produced some of the most beautiful images of wildlife ever captured on film.
Beard was born in 1938 in New York City. His great-grandfather was James J. Hill, founder of the Great Northern Railway. As a child, he spent his summers at his grandmother’s Tuxedo Park estate, where she gave him his first camera, a Voightländer. He used it to take pictures to accompany his diaries; Beard was a keen diarist throughout his life, amassing more than 100 volumes. At the age of 17, he took a life-changing trip to Africa with Quentin Keynes, Charles Darwin’s great-grandson, using his Voightländer to photograph wildlife.
After attending prestigious private schools such as Buckley and Pomfret, Beard entered Yale University in 1957 as a pre-med student. However, he soon turned his attention toward art, studying under architectural historian Vincent Scully, German artist Josef Albers and painter Richard Lindner. He graduated in 1961 with a degree in art history.
In the 1960s, Beard returned to Africa, where he met Out of Africa author Karen Blixen. Enamored by the continent’s natural beauty, he purchased Hog Ranch near Blixen’s coffee plantation in Kenya. While there, he received a special dispensation from President Uhuru Kenyatta to film, photograph and document the flora and wildlife at Tsavo National Park. This led to The End of the Game, published in 1965, which documented the demise of more than 35,000 starving elephants and 5,000 black rhinos.
Beard became renowned for his black-and-white and color photography, figurative photos and landscapes. He exhibited around the world, including at New York’s Blum Helman Gallery in 1975, the International Center of Photography in Manhattan in 1977, the Centre National de la Photographie in Paris in 1996 and Guild Hall in East Hampton in 2016.
Beard died in 2020 at the age of 82. His works remain in demand with collectors.
On 1stDibs, find original Peter Beard photography, mixed media work and prints.