Peter Beard
American, born January 22, 1938
Portrait of Peter Beard used by Francis Bacon for paintings he made in the 1970s.
Source: https://www.francis-bacon.com/content/peter-beard
Peter Beard’s career has brought him into contact with popular, artistic, and literary celebrities of the second half of the 20th century. His jet set milieu, however, has not muted Beard’s passion for the survival of the natural world in the face of ill-considered human interventions. A legendary correspondent, diarist, and raconteur, Beard’s path has intersected with the likes of Mick Jagger, Andy Warhol, Baroness Karen Blixen (a.k.a. Isak Dinesen, author of Out of Africa), fashion models Cheryl Tiegs and Iman, Francis Bacon (see illustration above), Brigitte Bardot, avant garde filmmakers including Jonas Mekas and Jerome HIll, and many others. His work reflects the ethics of an ardent yet skeptical humanist with a wise, gimlet-eyed take on the ambitions and vanity of homo sapiens. Crocodiles, lions, elephants, giraffes, and other members of the wild kingdom are Beard’s true celebrities.
“I’m for conservation, but it’s mostly a con. That’s the trouble. It’s sentimental. Buy an elephant a drink, a lion an acre.”