WILD

The over-the-top life of a famed wilderness photographer, conservationist, and enigmatic adventurer.

An artist’s life and work are often intertwined; in the case of Peter Beard (1938-2020), the distinction was especially blurred. Boynton, a journalist and longtime friend, valiantly attempts a balanced perspective, yet the scale often tips in favor of his progressively chaotic existence. A descendent of two prominent American families, Beard was inspired by early trips to Africa and the writing of Karen Blixen (aka Isak Dinesen). After acquiring property in Kenya in the early 1960s, he would focus much of his attention on the African wilderness. “His work, his passions, his reference points,” writes Boynton, “all have their origins in the African continent, and they were formed in that short time in Kenya’s disappearing wildlands.” Beard established himself as a gifted and fearless (sometimes reckless) wildlife photographer, and his photographs, particularly of African elephants, captured the escalating destruction of the vast wilderness. Earning acclaim for his first book, The End of the Game (1965), he also became enamored with the nightlife of New York City. With his high-society lineage and movie-star good looks, Beard attracted some of the most glamorous figures of his generation, including the likes of Mick Jagger, Jacqueline Onassis, and Truman Capote. He was married three times, and supermodel Cheryl Tiegs was his second wife. Through decades of partying, heavy drug use, and increasingly erratic behavior, his notorious escapades frequently eclipsed his creative output. Though Boynton offers due diligence to the process of Beard’s work and tracks the important milestones, we never quite get a handle on how he progressed as an evolving artist. Still, the author is convincing in his assertion that Beard will be best remembered for his work: “His place in history…will be determined not by his personal popularity, his nonstop drug ingestion, his serial womanizing, or his passionate defense of the wilderness but by his artistic legacy, and that part of his life remains the most difficult to accurately assess.”

An engrossing account of an elusive artist.