Peter Beard

Known for his fashion photography and striking images of Africa, Peter Beard’s photographs of sub-Saharan fauna and New York City nightlife in the 1970s and ’80s represent a sustained engagement with a libidinal power. Beard’s interest in Africa can be traced to his trips to the continent in the 1950s and ’60s, which he viewed as escapes from the high society into which he was born. During the 1970s, Beard began working for fashion magazines and became a fixture at Studio 54. Although separated by an ocean, both bodies of work are concerned with a certain kind of brutality and virulence. Beard later turned to photo-collage to bridge these two oeuvres, adding elements such as news clippings and his own blood to further explicate the themes of violence.