Peter Beard Photography
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
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 Photography
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...
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1960s Contemporary Peter Beard Photography
Materials
Platinum
Peter Beard -4 unique portraits of 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
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I'll write whenever I can...
By Peter Beard
Located in New York, NY
Category
1960s Peter Beard Photography
Materials
Platinum
Price Upon Request
I'll write whenever I can..., 1965
By Peter Beard
Located in New York, NY
Signed by the photographer
Category
1960s Peter Beard Photography
Materials
Platinum
Price Upon Request
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Peter Beard photography for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Peter Beard photography available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Peter Beard in ink, platinum print, paper 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 photography, so small editions measuring 10 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Irving Penn, Will McBride, and Tom Baril. Peter Beard photography prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $5,000 and tops out at $295,000, while the average work can sell for $26,000.
Artists Similar to Peter Beard
Questions About Peter Beard Photography
- What is Peter Beard known for?1 Answer1stDibs ExpertMarch 22, 2022Peter 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.