When news of artist adventurer Peter Beard’s disappearance was reported right when quarantine took effect, it was both shocking and apropos. This is a man who hung with elephants and icons with ebullience. Raised with privilege in Manhattan, earning an art degree at Yale University, he had every opportunity available but chose the path of an artist.
Peter Beard 1938 – 2020
His subjects were raw and wild, from the untamed territory of Kenya he captured Masai warriors and wildlife in their domain, adding his own interpretation that was layered with his jovial flare of illustration and embellishment, sometimes using his own blood. He related to the roaming, free-spirit of his subjects, the excitement of rock stars and famed personalities like Jackie O. and Mick Jagger. He even found marriage constrictive, was married three times including the actress Cheryl Tiegs. Since boyhood he kept journals that had a da Vinci Codex quality, as they were art forms on their own.
Montauk became his permanent home, an apt location as it is one of the most beautifully rugged places in the United States from its jagged coastal edges that drop to rocky beaches–a trove of sea life, vegetation and sea-smoothed stones you can see throughout his home and art.
Story I produced about Peter Beard that depicts his daughter Zara amongst his arrangement of stones. He said it was his favorite image shot in Montauk.
My first visit to his Montauk home and it’s impossible not to feel his presence, the damp salty scent, layers of books, textiles and beach finds that had the style of a refined Colonialist abroad. His environs is an extension of his art, jammed with ephemera from his travels and nature walks.
He was a genuine man, warm and open, who loved his family. I did an assignment on Peter where he had to choose his favorite photograph from the Hamptons and he selected his daughter Zara, playfully inserted within his arrangement of stones. Peter Beard had a method of living like no other, and will always serve as an inspration.
I was so sad when I read he’d gone missing. What an extraordinary life. How wonderful to have known him. The best part about the writing life is the amazing people you meet. Stay safe! Xx