Peter Beard has died at 82. Revisit V.F.'s 1996 profile of the 'internationally known photographer who has contempt for photography' VFArchive
eard has, of course, taken abysmal care of his work over the years; the diaries that survive are crumbling, and many years' worth were destroyed when his millhouse in Montauk burned down in 1977. Although almost everything he lost was irreplaceable, including Picassos, Warhols, and Bacons, Beard refused to give in to any grief."I remember having a little sob on my own for like three seconds," he concedes.
One of the Ethiopian girls pokes her head in, looking for his jar of marijuana. She is wearing a long, clinging sweaterdress that reveals every curve of her taut behind. Beard gazes after it with admiration as she strolls off."What an unbelievably beautiful ass!" he exclaims.hen I call Najma Beard, she is appalled to learn that Peter has been talking about the allegations of sexual molestation involved in their divorce.
She starts sobbing again."There are two Peters: one is a completely loving, vulnerable human being, and the other is a complete publicity-hound monster who wants to be a celebrity, and to be around celebrities. That's his downfall. He's absolutely petrified of getting old; Peter wants to be young, and drugs are his escape. When we had an intervention for him, he said, 'I like my drugs, and I don't think I have a problem.' It's a complete avoidance of reality.
He has denied any sexual abuse:"What's really disgusting is the utilization of child molestation as a divorce technique!" Oddly, however, he has only nice things to say about Najma."I love my wife," he says brightly."She's a totally good person. I think she got spoiled by America."an autobiographical account of his life's adventures which he is writing for his daughter, he won't even admit to any sadness about losing his child.
The daughter of a doctor and a diplomat, Iman was a student at Nairobi University. Her family, in exile from Somalia, had just moved to Tanzania; Iman had earned a one-year college scholarship but was trying to muster the fees for further schooling. When Beard offered to pay her a year's tuition, she accepted.
Miraculously, given the extent of his injuries, he survived, but he and his wife subsequently filed lawsuits against Beard and ABC. The case dragged on for years and was finally settled out of court, but its repercussions still roil the social waters in Nairobi, where opinions remain polarized. Both Beard and Turle have a significant financial investment in that view, since they've been collecting this material for years. But the academic community remains unconvinced."I find it hard to believe that a class of art objects could be discovered so late in this century, when Maasai anthropologists have been around for well over a hundred years," comments Richard Leakey, the former director of the National Museums of Kenya.
Indeed, expert opinion is not quite as unanimous as Klumpp Pido claims. Roderic Blackburn, an anthropologist and former research associate at the American Museum of Natural History, did extensive fieldwork among the Maasai to investigate the artifacts."I could not find any reason to doubt the authenticity of these objects," he reports."I don't see much basis for the doubts that have been cast.
His mind buzzes with ideas; he has even toyed with opening a Hog Ranch Bar & Grill, with a gift shop and, behind the bar, a diorama of the Ngong Hills. Then again, considering the realities of present-day Nairobi, maybe that's not such a good idea."It's like setting it up in Watts or Bedford-Stuyvesant," he conceded glumly.
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