Artist, diarist, collector and writer Peter Beard (1938-2020) turned his life into a work of art; the illustrated diaries he kept from an early age grew into a serious career as an artist and earned him a central position in the international art world.
Beard collaborated with Francis Bacon and Salvador Dalí, he created diaries with Andy Warhol, worked on books with scientists such as Dr. Norman Borlaug, Dr. Richard Laws and Alistair Graham, and toured with Truman Capote, Terry Southern and the Rolling Stones - all come to life, literally and figuratively, in his work. He delved into the world of fashion for its beautiful women, taking Vogue stars like Veruschka to Africa and taking new ones back to the U.S.
After spending time in Kenya and befriending writer Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) in the early 1960s, Beard purchased 50 acres adjacent to her farm with the stipulation that he would film and write about the land and its flora and fauna. He witnessed the beginning of Kenya's population explosion, which tested its finite resources and strained animal populations - including the starving elephants of Tsavo, who died by the tens of thousands in a wasteland of gnawed trees. So he documented what he saw - with diaries, photographs and collages. He went against the wind and published unique and sometimes shocking books of it, including The End of the Game. The corpses were exposed; the facts carefully recorded, sometimes in typography and often by hand. Beard used his photographs as a canvas on which he applied layered contact sheets, ephemera, found objects, newspaper clippings elaborately decorated with meticulous handwriting, old master-inspired drawings, and often pieces of animal blood used as paint.
In 2006, TASCHEN first published the book that came to define his oeuvre, signed by the artist and published in two volumes. It sold out immediately and became a highly sought-after collector's item. In the ten years since, the monograph has been revived in two smaller versions, but sometimes bigger is better. Now the book you failed to obtain is available in one large volume.
Specifications
Author: Owen Edwards
Publisher: Taschen
Size: 244 x 350 x 56 mm
Size: 706 pages
Weight: 2156 grams
Language: English
Material: Hardcover
