Peter Beard, Photographer and African Chronicler, Dies at 82

Peter Beard, the American photographer and naturalist known for his documentation of Africa and his jet-set lifestyle, has died at age 82 in New York. He had been missing for a month before his body was discovered in woods near his home in Montauk, Long Island. The cause of death has not been determined. Beard suffered from dementia. Born in New York in 1938, he studied art history at Yale University under Josef Albers, Richard Lindner, and Vincent Scully. At 17, he first traveled to Kenya, later returning after graduation to work at Tsavo National Park, where he photographed the threat of extinction facing 35,000 elephants and other wildlife. This work became his first book, "The End of the Game" (1965). He purchased Hog Ranch near the Ngong Hills, adjacent to Karen Blixen's property. Beard's photographic practice incorporated diary entries, newspaper clippings, dried leaves, old photographs, and drawings, creating collages that blended thoughts, emotions, and experiences. He was a regular at Studio 54 and counted Truman Capote, Francis Bacon, and Salvador Dalí among his friends. In 2004, he published "Zara's Tales: From Hog Ranch," a children's book named after his daughter. He shot the 2009 Pirelli Calendar in Botswana.