Peter Beard

Often known as “the last of the adventurers,” Peter Beard purchased fifty acres of land in Kenya in the early 1960s, with plans to document native flora and fauna. During this time, the pioneering artist witnessed the country’s population explosion — an event that threatened local wildlife and forever reshaped the region. Beard documented all of these changes, creating a record of this moment in history through his illustrated diaries and photographs. His photography juxtaposed stunning portraits of local peoples and death-defying shots of animals with tragic snaps of starving elephants and wastelands of eaten trees. These images became canvases, which he superimposed with multi-layer contact sheets, drawings, meticulous handwriting, newspaper clippings, all manner of found objects and even sometimes spatterings of animal blood. The result is a series of unique, genre-bending collages that are equal parts shocking, beautiful and captivating. A reprint of the two volume set originally published in 2006, Peter Beard is a complete collection of the late artist’s oeuvre. This large-format monograph is filled with hundreds upon hundreds of Beard’s collages, as well as an interview with the late artists by author Steven M. L. Aronson. A must-have for artists of any discipline.

•10.5″W x 2.25″D x 15″H

•by Owen Edwards and Steven M. L. Aronson
•foreword by Peter Beard
•edited by Nejma Beard and David Fahey
•clothbound hardcover with slipcase
•770 pages