Missing on March 31, 2020, the American photographer Peter Beard was found dead on Sunday, April 19, in the wild on Long Island (NY). He was 82 years old.
Student of art history at the prestigious Yale University from 1957 to 1961, Peter Beard was overwhelmed by his encounter with Africa. This continent has left a lasting mark on its work. He met the novelist Karen Blixen (author of Out of Africa) in Denmark at the end of his studies. She encourages him to settle in Kenya. He bought a property there near Ngong Hills, at the gates of Nairobi.
Peter Beard became known through photographs of wild animals and African landscapes. He published his first picture book in 1965: The End of the Game, a masterpiece.
The rest of his career was made up of round trips between the United States and Africa. He is known for his New York parties with Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, Mick Jagger, Jackie Kennedy or Francis Bacon and his career as a press photographer.
At the same time he produced a personal work integrating notes and drawings, but also collages of plants with animal pictures. Its rating reached, at the beginning of the 90s, peaks and its photographs integrate the museums. In 2017, a photo of him reached $ 672,000 during an auction at Christies.
