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.
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
Column & Socle
By Mark Beard
Located in New York, NY
Column & Socle 2001 Signed, dated, and inscribed “AP” in pencil, recto Polaroid transfer on Rives BFK paper 22 x 15 inches, sheet 7.5 x 9.5 inches, image This work is offered by ...
Polaroid
Manhattan Fifteenth Year Reader; 1995: The Grim Years
By Mark Beard
Located in New York, NY
Handmade book with 51 collaged linocuts by Mark Beard, also painted and hand-colored by the artist Signed and numbered in pencil Text by Mark Beard, silkscreened in the artist's han...
Linocut
$132Sale Price|20% Off
H 7.88 in W 7.88 in
Moor - Handmade Linocut, Limited Edition Print Unique 2/8, Mountains
By Aneta Szoltis-Mencina
Located in Hallein, AT
The artwork will be sent unframed, with passpartou Linocut „Moor” 2023 Linocut print technique Art print from 5 matrices Limited edition, print unique number 2/8 Paper Fabriano Ros...
Paper, Linocut
Ode to Manet's Olympia
By E2 - Kleinveld & Julien
Located in New Orleans, LA
12 x 16 inches - Edition 2 of 7 with 2 APs framing is an additional $265. Shot in New Orleans in 2011, background illustrated by Marco Ventura Inspired by Manet’s Olympia...
Archival Pigment
$1,805Sale Price|20% Off
H 47.25 in W 47.25 in D 3.94 in
The Muse II - Following Mozart's Inspiration & Music in a Photographic Journey
By Pia Clodi
Located in Zürich, CH
Not one to shy away from human representation, Pia Clodi’s more portraiture-like works continually offer the sitter an air of anonymity, and as such the viewer has the opportunity to...
Carbon Pigment, Polaroid
Lands and Waters 16, Westcombe, United Kingdom
By Mac Oller
Located in New York City, NY
Lands and Waters 16, Westcombe, United Kingdom, 2016 32x40 inches Edition of 9 Archival Pigment Print UNFRAMED Also available in: 48x60 inches Edition of 5 Archival Pigment Print U...
Archival Pigment
The Pantheon I, Rome, Italy
By Mac Oller
Located in New York City, NY
The Pantheon I, Rome, Italy, 2019 (Churches of Rome) 32x40 inches Edition of 9 Archival Pigment Print UNFRAMED Also available in: 48x60 inches Edition o...
Archival Pigment
Ode to the Pinching D'Estrées Sisters
By E2 - Kleinveld & Julien
Located in New Orleans, LA
16 x 24 inches - Edition 3 of 5 with 2 APs Available framing $420 Shot in 2011 in Amsterdam Inspired by an anonymous artist of the Fontainebleau School’s Presumed Portrait of Gabr...
Archival Pigment
Ode to Manet's Olympia
By E2 - Kleinveld & Julien
Located in New Orleans, LA
18 x 24 inches - Edition 2 of 5 with 2 APs framing is an additional $420. Shot in New Orleans in 2011, background illustrated by Marco Ventura Inspired by Manet’s Olympia...
Archival Pigment
$320
H 4.73 in W 5.91 in
Ophelia - XXI century, Black and white print, Figurative, Shakespeare
By Franciszek Bunsch
Located in Warsaw, PL
Black and white contemporary figurative linocut print by Polish artist Franciszek Bunsch. Artwork is titled 'Ophelia' and it may refer to mythology or Shakespear's 'Hamlet'. Print is...
Paper, Linocut
The Church of Sant'Andrea della Valle #3, Rome, Italy
By Mac Oller
Located in New York City, NY
The Church of Sant'Andrea della Valle #3, Rome, Italy, 2019 (Churches of Rome) 32x40 inches Edition of 9 Archival Pigment Print UNFRAMED Also available in: 48x60 inches Edition of ...
Archival Pigment
$2,950
H 32 in W 40 in
Church of the Gesu, Chiesa del Gesu, Rome, Italy (Churches of Rome)
By Mac Oller
Located in New York City, NY
Church of the Gesu, Chiesa del Gesu, Rome, Italy, 2019 (Churches of Rome) 32x40 inches Edition of 9 Archival Pigment Print UNFRAMED Also available in: 48x60 inches Edition of 5 Arc...
Archival Pigment
$2,950
H 32 in W 40 in D 2 in
The Church of Saint Andrew's at the Quirinal, Rome, Italy
By Mac Oller
Located in New York City, NY
The Church of Saint Andrew's at the Quirinal, Rome. Italy, 2019 (Churches of Rome) 32x40 inches Edition of 9 Archival Pigment Print UNFRAMED Also available in: 48x60 inches Edition...
Archival Pigment
Lands and Waters 24, Wales Coast, United Kingdom
By Mac Oller
Located in New York City, NY
Lands and Waters 24, Wales Coast, United Kingdom, 2016 32x40 inches Edition of 9 Archival Pigment Print UNFRAMED Also available in: 48x60 inches Edition of 5 Archival Pigment Print...
Archival Pigment
Aiden
By Mark Beard
Located in New York, NY
Aiden 1992 Signed and numbered in pencil Handmade book with frontispiece etching and 26 hand-colored and re-touched Polaroid transfer photographs, printed by Craig Fry with Mark Be...
Paper, Photographic Paper
John Kelly
By Mark Beard
Located in New York, NY
Polaroid transfer on Rives BFK paper Signed, titled, dated, and numbered in pencil, recto Also blindstamped, l.r. 11 x 7.5 inches, sheet size This artwork is offered by ClampArt, ...
Photogravure
Despot Atelier
By Mark Beard
Located in New York, NY
Polaroid transfer on Rives BFK paper Signed, titled, dated, and inscribed "AP" in pencil, recto Also blindstamped, l.r. 22 x 15 inches, sheet size 10 x 8 inches, image size This a...
Photogravure