Peter Beard’s work embraces the majestic brutality of Africa, and portrays his beloved adopted home with his own distinct visual vocabulary. In the current work, as well as lots 87, 90 and 91, unique embellishments by the artists of the Hog Ranch Art Department ornament Beard’s images creating a heightened experience, one that documents both the fierce beauty of Africa and the urgent need to protect it.
What is vividly apparent is that Beard’s work is an epitaph to noble beasts. His photographs are scientific documents infused with picture clues and conundrums, riddles, personal jokes, quotations – visual keys to a very real puzzle of survival and longevity. Once described as “Odysseus with a camera,” Beard was a visionary whose powerful work continues to resonate long after its creation.
