George Beard was born in Chesire, England. A multitalented man, he painted and photographed many outdoor scenes in Utah, Wyoming, and California. He died in Coalville, Utah in 1944. 

Beard's family converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1869 and immigrated to Coalville, Utah. Although he was primarily self-taught, he met and painted with the early Utah painter C. C. A. Christensen.  C. R. Savage, a pioneer photographer, was also an influence. His strongest artistic influence was Thomas Moran. However his colleague, Henry Culmer, and his instructors: Alfred Lambourne, George Ottinger, and Dan Weggeland also figured heavily in his artistic vision. 

Beard was hired as a choreboy at the Coalville Branch of ZCMI in 1871. He worked his way up to manager by the early 1900s. He remained active in civic, religious, and business affairs throughout his life, but he always found time for his passions—art and the outdoors. Beard made excursions into the surrounding Uinta Mountains of Utah and the Yellowstone regions of Wyoming and Montana to sketch and photograph the scenery.  Dead Horse Pass (1923) and Green River Lake (1915) are two of his notable paintings.

Biographical information on this page was adapted from Artists of Utah.

George Beard was a pioneer painter and photographer who was multitalented. He was born in the little hamlet of Stoneheads, near Whaley Bridge, Cheshire, England, but died in Coalville, Utah. About two years after his settlement in Coalville, he was hired as a chore boy with the town's branch of Z.C.M.I. and worked there with great success for over fifty years. Essentially a self-taught artist, Beard met and began painting with Carl Anderson in the 1870s. About the same time he also acquired skill as a photographer under the tutelage of Charles R. Savage. He found time for extensive excursions into the surrounding mountains, painting and photographing dramatic mountain panoramas throughout a very productive lifetime.

Biography courtesy of Artists of Utah

Books

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Fielding, Mantle, and Glenn B. Opitz, ed. Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers. 2nd ed. Poughkeepsie, NY: Apollo, 1986.

Haseltine, James L. 100 Years of Utah Painting: Selected Works from the 1840s to the 1940s. Salt Lake City, UT: Salt Lake Art Center, 1965.

Marlor, Clark S. The Society of Independent Artists: the Exhibition Record 1917-1944. Park Ridge, NJ: Noyes Press, 1984.

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Swanson, Vern G., Robert S. Olpin, and William C. Seifrit. Utah Art. Layton, UT: Peregrine Smith Books, 1992.

Swanson, Vern G., Robert S. Olpin, and William C. Seifrit. Utah Painting and Sculpture. Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith Publisher, 1991.