The family of Peter Beard had made a fortune in railroad and tobacco. He chose a double career as a photographer, socialite in America and defender of endangered species in Kenya. In 1965 he published a photo book titled The End of the Game which is an activist shout against animal massacres.
His personal life is complicated. His third wife Nejma whom he married in 1986 has succeeded in managing his career while leaving free rein to his creativity. From 1992 Peter Beard brings together his fantasies in very large collages.
His mixed technique uses prints of his own photos beside disparate elements such as blood, feathers, snake skin, newspaper clippings and various everyday objects that make him a follower of Rauschenberg and exhibit the profusion of his mental process. The artwork usually includes long autograph texts at the periphery of the images.
The title Heart Attack City is used for several works. The image is constituted like a double open page of a giant diary. On the left the picture of a hilarious Marilyn Monroe is scarred with blood. On the right a large number of small abstract photos are aerial views of bones from an elephant massacre in 1972.
That diary is stuck on a background illustrated on all four sides with a similar abundance. An assemblage 129 x 217 cm overall made in 1998 was sold for £ 435K including premium by Christie's on May 20, 2016.
On April 9 in New York, Phillips sells a 140 x 217 cm work whose photographic contribution is dated 1972. The undated collage was made on a watercolor background made by his Kenyan team in a naive and rich iconography which brings to the whole an unexpected optimism. It is estimated $ 500K, lot 150. The wording 'visually omnivorous' used by the auction house to characterize the artist is well targeted.
SOLD for $ 600K including premium
His personal life is complicated. His third wife Nejma whom he married in 1986 has succeeded in managing his career while leaving free rein to his creativity. From 1992 Peter Beard brings together his fantasies in very large collages.
His mixed technique uses prints of his own photos beside disparate elements such as blood, feathers, snake skin, newspaper clippings and various everyday objects that make him a follower of Rauschenberg and exhibit the profusion of his mental process. The artwork usually includes long autograph texts at the periphery of the images.
The title Heart Attack City is used for several works. The image is constituted like a double open page of a giant diary. On the left the picture of a hilarious Marilyn Monroe is scarred with blood. On the right a large number of small abstract photos are aerial views of bones from an elephant massacre in 1972.
That diary is stuck on a background illustrated on all four sides with a similar abundance. An assemblage 129 x 217 cm overall made in 1998 was sold for £ 435K including premium by Christie's on May 20, 2016.
On April 9 in New York, Phillips sells a 140 x 217 cm work whose photographic contribution is dated 1972. The undated collage was made on a watercolor background made by his Kenyan team in a naive and rich iconography which brings to the whole an unexpected optimism. It is estimated $ 500K, lot 150. The wording 'visually omnivorous' used by the auction house to characterize the artist is well targeted.
SOLD for $ 600K including premium
Iconic images by #PeterBeard, #CarrieMaeWeems, #AndreasGursky, #EdwardSteichen, #RobertMapplethorpe and #IrvingPenn. Browse our #NewYork #Photographs auction, heading to 450 Park Avenue on 9 April. #collectphoto: https://t.co/UH8OLpT1Aj pic.twitter.com/zhIbNtCkvS
— P H I L L I P S (@phillipsauction) March 16, 2018
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