Peter Beard~ 50 years of portraits~

I want this book!! ok, it's only $2,475.00, for the one that is autographed by Peter himself & his handprint! spare change, yah right! but there is another available for $650.00 used condition @ Amazon~ I think I will be saving up for awhile for this one ;)

Peter Beard: Fifty Years of Portraits. Photographs by Peter Beard.
Text by Anthony Haden-Guest.
Arena Editions, Santa Fe, 1999.
240 pp., 175 four-color illustrations, 8x10".
Out-of-print, few copies remain.

The first absolutely essential Peter Beard book in years centers around the theme of portraits, relating an extremely detailed account of the artist's work. Finely curated by Peter T. Tunney, the book begins with early childhood photos of Beard and containing exemplary images from all of his projects: The End of the Game, Longing for Darkness, the diaries, a liberal sprinkling of "fashion" photos, and many other unpublished photographs. The book is finely crafted with faux-leather covers and exquisite.

PETER BEARD FIFTY YEARS OF PORTRAITS Essay
Photographer, naturalist, and raconteur Peter Beard has befriended and photographed some of the most prominent figures of our times. From his earliest attempts at expression as a child to the mania for travel and adventure that overtook Beard as a young man, and onward to Beard's most recent work on assignment, portraiture is a central thread of Beard's career.Beard's "portraits," however, rarely conform to the traditional format of this genre. Instead, they embody spontaneity, the moments shared with intimate friends, and the adventurous lives and experiences to which he has long been attracted. A vital chronicler of our times, he has created memorable images of such icons as Picasso, Francis Bacon, Karen Blixen, Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Salvador Dali, and Mick Jagger, along with the last great safari hunters, people such as J. A. Hunter, Phillip Percival, and "Cape-to-Cairo" Grogan. Beard's "living sculpture" of poised beauty is also revealed-Brigitte Bardot, Carole Bouquet, Iman, and Verushka. Perhaps the greatest departure from conventional portraiture are Beard's searing images of elephants and crocodiles. Fifty Years of Portraits, the catalog for the traveling exhibition, assembles the most diverse and eclectic collection of images from Beard's lifetime ever published.