PETER BEARD  VOLUME ONE  & VOLUME TWO

By PETER BEARD

Introduction by Owen Edwards

Published by Taschen, Hohenzollernring: Germany

2008. First Edition of this beautiful production. 

These 2 Books are Large thick Red buckram cloth HARDCOVERS stamped in gilt, with illustrated endpages in Fine condition with a cloth Slipcase as issued with a slight corner bump.

Size = 14 inches by 10 inches by 4 inches

Total Weight around 11 pounds

VOLUME ONE  (PB1): 200 pages of diaries and 294 pages of the artist’s photographic collages + 5 fold-out; original essay by photo critic Owen Edwards.

Nearly all the diaries and collages from the original book are included, plus two new collages finished in 2007.

VOLUME TWO (PB2) about 168 pages which contains the following a BIOGRAPHY of Peter Beard on his personal history and cosmic philosophy interview with the artist by Steven M. L. Aronson in English, German & French language Text.

Also an Image index with captions for all pictures from Volume 1, personal photographs and early work of the artist, a facsimile reprint of Beard s 1993 handwritten essay from the sold-out first issue of Blind Spot magazine, extensive bibliography, filmography, and a list of exhibitions. 

Originally published in 2006 in TASCHEN's Collector's Edition series, the book sold out instantly upon publication and earned accolades from publications the world over.

***** Photographer, collector, diarist, and writer of books Peter Beard has fashioned his life into a work of art; the illustrated diaries he kept from a young age evolved into a serious career as an artist and earned him a central position in the international art world.

He was painted by Francis Bacon, painted on by Salvador Dali, and made diaries with Andy Warhol; he toured with Truman Capote and the Rolling Stones, created books with Jacqueline Onassis and Mick Jagger , Keith Richards all of whom are brought to life, literally and figuratively, in his work.

As a fashion photographer, he took Vogue stars like Veruschka to Africa and brought new ones most notably Iman back to the U.S. with him.

MORE ABOUT ==  Peter Hill Beard is an American artist, photographer, diarist and writer who lives and works in New York City and Kenya. His photographs of Africa , African animals and the journals that often integrate his photographs have been widely shown and published since the 1960s.

Born in 1938 in New York City and raised in New York City, Alabama, and Islip, Long Island, Beard began keeping diaries as a young boy and making photographs, as an extension of the diaries, at the age of twelve. A graduate of Pomfret School, he entered Yale University in 1957, with the intention of pursuing pre-med studies, only to switch his major to art history. His mentors at Yale included Josef Albers, Richard Lindner and Vincent Scully.

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 first book, “The End of the Game.” During this time, Beard acquired Hog Ranch, a property near the Ngong Hills adjacent to the coffee farm owned by Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen), which would become his lifelong home-base in East Africa.

Art = Peter Beard’s photographs of Africa, African animals and journals that often integrate his photographs have been widely shown and published since the 1970s. Each of his works is unique, a combination of his photography with elements derived from his daily diary-keeping, a practice he continues to this day.

These volumes contain newspaper clippings, dried leaves, insects, old sepia-toned photos, transcribed telephone messages, marginalia in India ink, photographs of women, quotes, found objects, and the like; these become incorporated, with original drawings and collage by Beard. Certain of his works incorporate animal blood, sometimes Beard’s own blood (in sparing quantities), a painting medium the artist favors.

Beard’s first exhibition was at the Blum Helman Gallery, New York, in 1975. Landmark museum exhibitions have been held at the International Center of Photography, New York, in 1977, and the Centre National de la Photographie, Paris, in 1997. Gallery exhibitions followed in Berlin, London, Toronto, Madrid, Milan, Tokyo and Vienna. Beard’s work is included in private collections throughout the world.

Personal life == Descended from distinguished American families on both sides, Beard is one of three sons born to Roseanne Hoar Beard and Anson McCook Beard, Jr. A great-grandfather, James Jerome Hill, was founder of the Great Northern Railway in the United States in the late nineteenth/early twentieth centuries. Having made his fortune in the railroad business, James Jerome Hill was a great patron of the arts.

All of his heirs were exposed to and owned great collections, presumably having a strong influence on Beard’s interests in the arts and beauty.

Beard has befriended and in some cases collaborated with many legendary artists including Andy Warhol, Andrew Wyeth, Francis Bacon, Karen Blixen, Truman Capote, Richard Lindner, and Salvador Dalí.

He has also photographed many well-known people.           

Surrealism    Psychedelic