BEARD, Peter. Fifty Years of Portraits… (Santa Fe, New Mexico): Arena Editions, (1999).

BEARD, Peter.
Fifty Years of Portraits…
(Santa Fe, New Mexico): Arena Editions, (1999).

4to (254 × 203 mm), pp.206 (incl. one folding). Colour and black-and-white photographs and illustrations. Preface by Peter L. Tunney, introduction by David Fahey, essay by Anthony Haden-Guest; page edges very lightly toned, light crease to corner of folding page. Red endpapers. Brown imitation leather-covered boards, titles to front and spine in red, photographic reproduction affixed to debossed panel on front. Near-fine.

First edition. 'Photographer, naturalist, and raconteur Peter Beard has befriended and photographed some of the most prominent figures of our times. From his earliest attempts at expression as a child to the mania for travel and adventure that overtook Beard as a young man, and onward to Beard's most recent work on assignment, portraiture is a central thread of Beard's career.

Beard's "portraits," however, rarely conform to the traditional format of this genre. Instead, they embody spontaneity, the moments shared with intimate friends, and the adventurous lives and experiences to which he has long been attracted. A vital chronicler of our times, he has created memorable images of such icons as Picasso, Francis Bacon, Karen Blixen, Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Salvador Dali, and Mick Jagger, along with the last great safari hunters, people such as J. A. Hunter, Phillip Percival, and "Cape-to-Cairo" Grogan. Beard's "living sculpture" of poised beauty is also revealed-Brigitte Bardot, Carole Bouquet, Iman, and Verushka. Perhaps the greatest departure from conventional portraiture are Beard's searing images of elephants and crocodiles. Fifty Years of Portraits, the catalog for the traveling exhibition, assembles the most diverse and eclectic collection of images from Beard's lifetime ever published.'