Artist, collector, diarist and book author Peter Beard (1938-2020) has transformed his entire life into a work of art. From a young man who illustrated his diaries, he became a serious artist who achieved a central position on the international scene. He collaborated with Francis Bacon and Salvador Dalí , designed diaries with Andy Warhol and went with Truman Capote, Terry Southern and the Rolling Stones on tour – they are all brought to life in his work in one way or another. As a fashion photographer, he Vogue stars like Veruschka to Africa and brought others to the United States.

In the early 1960s, Beard traveled to Kenya and met the author Isak Dinesen (Tania Blixen). He acquired a piece of land next to hers on the condition that he document its flora and fauna. Beard experienced the Population explosion in Kenya the end of resources and the threat to many animal species (including the elephants of Tsavo, who died by the tens of thousands in the midst of a depleted landscape) and recorded these experiences in his Diaries, photographs and collages With his unique, sometimes shocking works such as The End of the Game (The Last Hunt) he worked against the spirit of the times: He showed the dead bodies as they were and carefully described his impressions on a typewriter and by hand . Beard used his photographs as a canvas—arranging contact prints, newspaper clippings, postcards, and other collected objects side by side and on top of each other, embellishing them with his meticulous handwriting, drawings, and animal blood.