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Peter Beard Art

American, 1938-2020

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.

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Artist: Peter Beard
The End of the Game Rare 1970s ICP print (Hand Signed, inscribed by Peter Beard)
By Peter Beard
Located in New York, NY
Peter Beard The End of the Game (Hand Signed by Peter Beard), 1977 Offset Lithograph Poster (hand signed by Peter Beard and inscribed with a heart) Han...
Category

1970s Contemporary Peter Beard Art

Materials

Lithograph, Offset

Elui with World Record Cow Elephant Tusk, 47 lbs., Marsabit Forest, Kenya – Art
By Peter Beard
Located in Zurich, CH
PETER BEARD (1938–2020, USA) Elui with World Record Cow Elephant Tusk, 47 lbs., Marsabit Forest, Kenya, 1962/2006 Color print with gelatin silver print collage, watercolor, tempera paint, ink Sheet 141 x 108,6 cm (55 1/2 x 42 3/4 in.) Unique Signed recto and verso in ink Peter Beard (1938–2020) was an American artist who lived and worked in New York and Kenya. In Africa Peter Beard found the central theme of his life, the destruction of the natural animal world by man and civilization. His photographs of Africa, African animals and the journals that often integrate his photographs have been widely shown and published since the 1960s. Inspired by earlier trips to Africa in both 1955 and 1960, Beard traveled to Kenya upon graduation. Working at Tsavo National Park, he photographed and documented the demise of 35,000 elephants and other wildlife, later to become the subject of his iconic book, “The End of the Game...
Category

1960s Contemporary Peter Beard Art

Materials

Ink, Watercolor, Gouache, Color, Silver Gelatin

Peter Beard - Elephant's Embryo, Uganda, Platinum Print- Unsigned
By Peter Beard
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Elephant's Embryo, Uganda Aributed to Peter Beard/Unsigned The original photograph "unsigned" but documented by its inclusion in "Peter Beard - Fifty Years of Portraits, The End of the Game...
Category

1960s Contemporary Peter Beard Art

Materials

Platinum

4 unique portraits of Vietnamese concert pianist Chau-Giang Thi Nguyen, Signed
By Peter Beard
Located in New York, NY
Peter Beard Portraits of classical concert pianist Concert Pianist Chau-Giang Thi Nguyen in artists frame, 2006 Four (4) separate Chromogenic prints (c-print) in artist's frame. Hand...
Category

Early 2000s Realist Peter Beard Art

Materials

Photographic Paper, C Print

"Peter Beard: Fifty Years Of Portraits" 1999 BEARD, Peter
By Peter Beard
Located in Bristol, CT
BEARD, Peter [205] pp. Arena Editions 1999 First Edition 7 1/4" x 8 1/4" w/ Acrylic 'Red Hand-Print' Inscribed: from Peter [Beard] 205 W 57th [NYC] thanks for all Feb 15, 20...
Category

20th Century Peter Beard Art

Materials

Paper, Acrylic

Black and White Photograph of One Year old Gorilla in Rwanda Before the Genocide
By Peter Beard
Located in Brookville, NY
This black and white photograph by Peter Beard, measures 40"x60" unframed, it measures 48" 3/4 x 76" framed. It is printed on platinum paper by W.Ingram signed in pencil by the artist, Peter Beard. This is an A/P from an edition of 15 Exhibited Nassau Co Museum of Art 2016 -2017 Illustrated in Peter Beards Book...
Category

1980s Naturalistic Peter Beard Art

Materials

Black and White

I'll write whenever I can...
By Peter Beard
Located in New York, NY
Category

1960s Peter Beard Art

Materials

Platinum

I'll write whenever I can..., 1965
By Peter Beard
Located in New York, NY
Signed by the photographer
Category

1960s Peter Beard Art

Materials

Platinum

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Child and Mother Chicken Greet Birth of a Chick, Children's Book Illustration
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Kenny Scharf Tony Shafrazi gallery 1984 (Kenny Scharf 1984)
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FLAG SERIES 1980 Signed Lithograph Colorful Flag Collage Madagascar Stamp, Birds
By Chaim Gross
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FLAG SERIES 1980 is a brightly colored lithograph by the American artist/sculptor Chaim Gross printed in 10 colors on archival Arches printmaking paper. FLAG SERIES 1980 depicts a bold graphic image comprised of colorful flag segments intermixed to form a varied bird-shaped designs. Chaim Gross' FLAG SERIES was specially commissioned by The World Federation of UN Associations (WFUNA) in 1980 as a limited edition lithograph for the UN stamp issue. Lithograph is hand signed in pencil by the artist Chaim Gross and numbered 166/1500. Postal Stamp and First Day cancel on lower left. Print size - 11.0" x 8.5" unframed, fresh, vivid colors, very good condition. Chaim Gross,(1904 - 1991) was a sculptor, artist, and teacher, known for his wood carvings, sculptures of moving human figures, religious imagery, acrobats, mothers and children. Chaim was born on March 17, 1904 to a Jewish family in Austrian Galicia, in the village of Wolowa in the Carpathian Mountains. In 1911, his family moved to Kolomyia. During World War I, Russian forces invaded Austria-Hungary; amidst the turmoil, the Grosses fled Kolomyia. They returned when Austria retook the town in 1915, refugees of the war. When World War I ended, Gross and brother Avrom-Leib went to Budapest, where Gross attended the city's art academy and studied with painter Béla Uitz, though within a year a new regime under Miklos Horthy took over and attempted to expel all Jews and foreigners from the country. After being deported from Hungary, Gross began art studies at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna shortly before emigrating to New York City in 1921. In the U.S., Gross's studies continued at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design, where he studied sculpture with Elie Nadelman and others, and at the Art Students League, with sculptor Robert Laurent. He also attended the Educational Alliance Art School, studying under Abbo Ostrowsky. In the late 1920s and early 1930s Gross exhibited at the Salons of America exhibitions at the Anderson Galleries and, beginning in 1928, at the Whitney Studio Club (the precursor to the Whitney Museum of American Art). In March 1932 Gross had his first solo exhibition at Gallery 144 in New York City. Also in 1932, Gross married Renee Nechin (1909-2005), and they had two children, Yehuda and Mimi (Mimi Gross is a New York-based artist, and was married to the artist Red Grooms from 1963-1976). In 1933, Gross joined the government's PWAP (Public Works of Art Project), which transitioned into the WPA (Works Progress Administration). Under these programs Gross taught and demonstrated art, made sculptures for schools and public colleges, and created works for Federal buildings including the Federal Trade Commission Building, and for the France Overseas and Finnish Buildings at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Gross was also recognized during these years with a silver medal at the 1937 Exposition universelle in Paris. Chaim Gross, Sculptor by Josef Vincent Lombardo, the first major book on Gross, came out in 1949 and included a catalogue raisonne of his sculpture. In the 1950s Gross began to make more...
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Elephants Walking Through Grass, Amboseli – Nick Brandt, Elephants, Photography
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NICK BRANDT (*1966, England) Elephants Walking Through Grass, Amboseli 2008 Platinum print Image 58.42 x 106.68 cm (23 x 42 in.) Sheet 76 x 111.2 cm (29 7/8 x 43 3/4 in.) Edition of ...
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Early 2000s Contemporary Peter Beard Art

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Previously Available Items
Rwanda Skull After the Genocide of the Mountain Gorillas in Africa Photograph
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signed titled and inscribed in ink in various edges of the photograph with collage. This was gifted by Peter Beard to Irving Penn who later returned it to Peter Beard. The back o...
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1980s American Realist Peter Beard Art

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Andy Warhol Jamie Wyeth (museum program)
By Peter Beard
Located in NEW YORK, NY
'Andy Warhol & Jamie Wyeth Portraits of Each Other': Rare, oversized, fold-out museum program published on the occasion of the exhibit: Andy Warhol & Jamie Wyeth Portraits of Each Other, Brandywine River Museum (Brandywine Conservancy) November 26, 1976-January 9, 1977. Cover image by: Peter Beard. Fold-out museum program in 3 parts. Thick paper. Offset printed, 1976. 8x10 inches (folded closed). Good to very good overall vintage condition with some occasional handling signs. Unsigned from an edition of unknown. Rare. Cover image by photographer Peter Beard. Further Background: "Though contemporaries, the artists James Browning Wyeth and Andy Warhol could not be more diametrically opposed. Jamie, is a third-generation member of the famed Wyeth family, who are celebrated as central figures in the revival of realism in American art (his father is Andrew Wyeth, painter of the American classic Christina’s World...
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1970s Pop Art Peter Beard Art

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Peter Beard - Beyond Gauguin Night Giraffe Feeding - Framed/Unsigned
By Peter Beard
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Beyond Gauguin Night Giraffe Feeding, Maureen Gallagher Late Night Feeder, 1987 Peter Beard/Unsigned The original photograph unsigned but documented by its inclusion in "Peter Beard - Fifty Years of Portraits, The End of the Game, Eyelids of Morning and many other prints. Size image: 13 3/8 in. H x 19½ in. W Sheet size: 16 in. Hx 20 in. W x 1 in. D Framed: 25.5 in. H x 31 in. W Platinum print Peter Hill...
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1970s Post-War Peter Beard Art

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Platinum

Cheetah Cubs at Mweiga nr Nyeri, Kenya, 1968
By Peter Beard
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Attributed to Peter Beard- original photograph unsigned but documented by its inclusion in "Peter Beard - Fifty Years of Portraits, The End of the Game, Eyelids of Morning and many others. Cheetah Cubs...
Category

1970s Contemporary Peter Beard Art

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Black and White, Archival Pigment, Silver Gelatin

Gardeners of Eden - Contemporary, Animal, Landscape Photography, Peter Beard
By Peter Beard
Located in Zurich, CH
PETER BEARD (*1938, USA) Gardeners of Eden, 1984/2009 Gelatin silver print with watercolor, ink Sheet 59,7 x 75,9 cm (23 1/2 x 29 7/8 in.) Frame 81 x 95,4 x 4 cm (31 7/8 x 37 1/2 x 1...
Category

1980s Contemporary Peter Beard Art

Materials

Ink, Watercolor, Silver Gelatin

Elephant and Eland - Contemporary, Animal, Landscape Photography, Peter Beard
By Peter Beard
Located in Zurich, CH
PETER BEARD (1938–2020, USA) Elephant and Eland, 1965/2010 Gelatin silver print with watercolor, gouache, ink Sheet 56.2 x 76 cm (22 1/8 x 29 7/8...
Category

1960s Contemporary Peter Beard Art

Materials

Watercolor, Gouache, Silver Gelatin, Ink

Large Tusker, Black and White Nature Photography of Elephant in Kenya, Africa
By Peter Beard
Located in New york, NY
Large tusker "Elephant" photograph by Peter Beard - 9” x 13.5” — is a signed gelatin silver photograph and dedicated ("greetings @xmas 1990 from Peter Beard), top of photo (left cor...
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1960s Contemporary Peter Beard Art

Materials

Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

"Beyond Gauguin", Night Giraffe Feeding
By Peter Beard
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Attributed to Peter Beard- original photograph unsigned but documented by its inclusion in "Peter Beard - Fifty Years of Portraits, The End of the Game, Eyelids of Morning and many others.print Maureen Gallagher Late Night Feeder, 1987 Gelatin silver print size image 13 3/8in. x 19½ sheet: each 16in.20 x 1 25.5 x 31 in. framed ____________________________ Peter Hill...
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1970s Contemporary Peter Beard Art

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Silver Gelatin, Black and White, Archival Pigment

Cheetah Cubs at Mweiga nr Nyeri, Kenya, 1968
By Peter Beard
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Attributed to Peter Beard- original photograph unsigned but documented by its inclusion in "Peter Beard - Fifty Years of Portraits, The End of the Game, Eyelids of Morning and many others. Cheetah Cubs...
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1970s Contemporary Peter Beard Art

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Silver Gelatin, Black and White, Archival Pigment

Peter Beard - The Death of Elephants in Tsavo Park, Platinum Print/Unsigned
By Peter Beard
Located in Miami Beach, FL
The Death of Elephants in Tsavo Park 1971 - 1972 Peter Beard/Unsigned The original photograph unsigned but documented by its inclusion in "Peter Beard - Fifty Years of Portraits, The End of the Game, Eyelids of Morning and many others. Image size: 20 in. H x 16 in. W Platinum print Peter Hill...
Category

2010s Contemporary Peter Beard Art

Materials

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Peter Beard - Elephant's Embryo, Uganda, Platinum Print- Unsigned
By Peter Beard
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Elephant's Embryo, Uganda Peter Beard/Unsigned The original photograph "unsigned" but documented by its inclusion in "Peter Beard - Fifty Years of Portraits, The End of the Game, Eyelids of Morning, and many others. Image size: 16 in. H x 20 in. W Platinum print Peter Hill...
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1960s Contemporary Peter Beard Art

Materials

Platinum

Peter Beard - Francis Bacon at 80 Narrow Street, London, Unsigned
By Peter Beard
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Francis Bacon at 80 Narrow Street, London, March 1972 Peter Beard/Unsigned The original photograph unsigned but documented by its inclusion in "Peter Beard - Fifty Years of Portraits, The End of the Game, Eyelids of Morning, and many others. Image size: 19½ in. H x 13 3/8 in. W Sheet size: 20 in. H x 16 in. W Platinum print Peter Hill...
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1970s Contemporary Peter Beard Art

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Peter Beard art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Peter Beard art available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of art to introduce a pop of color in a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of red and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by Peter Beard in ink, paper, platinum print and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the contemporary style. Not every interior allows for large Peter Beard art, so small editions measuring 8 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Irving Penn, David Armstrong, and Larry Clark. Peter Beard art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $3,500 and tops out at $295,000, while the average work can sell for $25,000.

Artists Similar to Peter Beard

Questions About Peter Beard Art
  • 1stDibs ExpertMarch 22, 2022
    Peter Beard was known for his work as a photographer. Over the course of his career, he captured numerous photographs of endangered African animals that appeared in major publications. He died in the spring of 2020. Shop a collection of Peter Beard art on 1stDibs.

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