Twentieth-Century Man

The Wild Life of Peter Beard

An exuberant biography of the life of the iconic photographer and naturalist Peter Beard, whose life and work captured the cultural imagination 

Peter Beard lived an astonishing life. The artist, wildlife photographer, and bon vivant enthralled and inspired both because of his work and his legendary lifestyle. A scion of American industry turned explorer of Africa and environmental advocate, Beard embodied the extremes of 20th century culture: grand adventurer and sexually voracious partier, friend of everyone from the Rolling Stones to Jackie Onassis to Andy Warhol to Karen Blixen. And Beard had a passion—probably more like an obsession—with the faults of the entire human experiment, with the ways in which our consumption of the world’s resources have come to consume us all.

Beard’s outsize life and character—his death-defying documentation of the endangered African wildlife, and, closer to home, some of the world’s most beautiful women for a range of fashion magazines—animate this lively but authoritative biography. The journalist Christopher Wallace, long fascinated by Beard’s artistic legacy, adventurous spirit, and hard-partying persona, came to know him well later in Beard’s life. Capturing the varied social and cultural scenes that Beard moved through with glamorous ease over five decades, from Montauk to Nairobi, Wallace also makes a powerful case for the lasting impact of his work.

In Twentieth-Century Man, Wallace has rendered this towering figure in all of his contradictions and complexities—a deeply romantic and idiosyncratic personality, beloved by so many, whose sensibilities nonetheless remained firmly rooted in an era characterized by racist and colonialist attitudes. Stirring and visceral, Twentieth-Century Man is the definitive artist biography and portrait of Peter Beard.

Based on years of research and personal interviews with the artist, this biography renders the towering figure in all of his contradictions:

• An Adventurer’s Life: From death-defying encounters with wildlife in the African bush to hard-partying nights at Studio 54, Beard lived at the extremes of his time.
• The Jet Set: Explore his complex friendships with cultural icons like Andy Warhol, Jackie Onassis, Truman Capote, and The Rolling Stones.
• A Complicated Legacy: A nuanced look at a man who was both a pioneering environmental advocate and a personality rooted in colonialist attitudes.
• Obsessive Artistry: A deep dive into the creation of his famous, often blood-splattered, diaries and groundbreaking wildlife photography.

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