Visceral, masculine and captivating, this unique photographic collage by Peter Beard perfectly demonstrates his mastery of pushing photography to the edge. Blurring the boundaries between photography, painting and collage, the present lot combines Beard’s incredible portrait of a pride of lions, taken in 1976 in Tanzania, accompanied by additional photographs from his long and storied career along the margins. The collage is then embellished with animal blood that he used to frame the central image with his hand, the mark of which is seen along the lower right edge.

Beard’s unique practice of revisiting images of wildlife taken while living in Africa, beginning in the 1960s, and re-presenting them as assemblages, has given his images a new life, offering a contemporary context for his dynamic work.