Peter Hujar (; October 11, 1934 – November 26, 1987) was an American photographer best known for his black-and-white portraits. Hujar's work received only marginal public recognition during his lifetime, but he has since been recognized as a major American photographer of the 1970s and 80s. The exhibition, ''Peter Hujar: Eyes Open in the Dark'', is on show at

Raven Row Raven Row is a free art exhibition centre in Spitalfields. It was constructed from numbers 56 and 58, Artillery Lane. These properties were built about 1690. The area was formerly used for testing artillery and this portion of the lane was ...

, London until 6 April 2025.

Early life

Hujar was born on October 11, 1934, in Trenton, New Jersey, to Rose Murphy, a waitress, who was abandoned by her husband during her pregnancy. He was raised by his Ukrainian grandparents on their farm, where he spoke only Ukrainian until he started school. He remained on the farm until his grandmother's death in 1946, and his mother took him to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

to live with her and her second husband in their one-room apartment. The household was abusive, and in 1950, when Hujar was 16, he left home and began to live independently.

Education

Hujar received his first camera in 1947 and in 1953 entered the

School of Industrial Art The High School of Art and Design is a career and technical education high school in Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1936 as the School of Industrial Art, the school moved to 1075 Second Avenue in 1960 and more recently, its Midtown Manha ...

where he expressed interest in being a photographer. He encountered an encouraging teacher, the poet Daisy Aldan (1923–2001), and following her advice he became a commercial photography apprentice. Apart from classes in photography during high school, Hujar's photographic education and technical mastery was acquired in commercial photo studios, where he could use the darkroom during afterhours. By 1957, when he was age 23 he was making photographs now considered to be of museum quality. Early in 1967, he was one of a select group of young photographers in a master class taught by

Richard Avedon Richard Avedon (May 15, 1923 – October 1, 2004) was an American fashion and portrait photographer. He worked for ''Harper's Bazaar'', '' Vogue'' and '' Elle'' specializing in capturing movement in still pictures of fashion, theater and ...

and

Marvin Israel Marvin Israel (July 3, 1924 – May 7, 1984) was an American artist, photographer, painter, teacher and art director from New York City known for modern/surreal interiors, abstract imagery. Israel created sinister shadowy and exuberant interiors ...

, where he met

Alexey Brodovitch Alexey Vyacheslavovich Brodovitch (also Brodovich; , ; 1898 – April 15, 1971) was a Belarusian-American photographer, designer and instructor who is most famous for his art direction of fashion magazine ''Harper's Bazaar'' from 1934 to ...

and

Diane Arbus Diane Arbus (; ; March 14, 1923 – July 26, 1971
by

Artistic career

In 1958, Hujar accompanied the artist

Joseph Raffael Joseph Raffael (born February 22, 1933 – July 12, 2021) was an American contemporary realist painter known for his large-scale watercolors. Early life Raffael was born on February 22, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York. He was the youngest of thre ...

on a

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

to Italy. In 1963, he secured his own Fulbright and returned to Italy with

Paul Thek Paul Thek (November 2, 1933 – August 10, 1988) was an American painter, sculptor and installation artist. Thek was active in both the United States and Europe, exhibiting several installations and sculptural works over the course of his life. Po ...

, whom he had been dating since 1959, where they explored and photographed the

Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo The Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo (also Catacombe dei Cappuccini or Catacombs of the Capuchins) are burial catacombs in Palermo, Sicily, southern Italy. Today they provide a somewhat macabre tourist attraction as well as an extraordinary histori ...

, images of the dead later featured in ''Portraits in Life and Death''. In 1964, Hujar returned to America and became a chief assistant in the studio of the commercial photographer Harold Krieger. Around this time, he met

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

, posed for four of Warhol's three-minute ''

Screen Tests The ''Screen Tests'' are a series of short, silent, black-and-white film portraits by Andy Warhol, made between 1964 and 1966, generally showing their subjects from the neck up against plain backdrops. The ''Screen Tests'', of which 472 surv ...

'' and was included in the compilation film ''The Thirteen Most Beautiful Boys'' that was assembled from ''Screen Tests''. Hujar quit his job in

commercial photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed in many ...

in 1967, and at great financial sacrifice, began to pursue primarily his own art work that reflected his homosexual milieu. He was an influential artist-activist of the

gay liberation The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s in the Western world, that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride.Hoff ...

movement; in 1969, with his lover, the political activist

Jim Fouratt Jim Fouratt (born June 23, 1941) is a gay-rights activist, actor, and former nightclub impresario. He is best known for his involvement with the Stonewall riots and as co-founder of Danceteria in New York City. Early life Fouratt was raised in ...

, he witnessed the

Stonewall riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, Stonewall revolution, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous riots and demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of ...

in the

West Village The West Village is a neighborhood in the western section of the larger Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The West Village is bounded by the Hudson River to the west and 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to ...

. At the urging of Fouratt, he documented the first gay liberation march (June 28, 1970), and took the now somewhat ironic photo "Come out!!" for the

Gay Liberation Front Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was the name of several gay liberation groups, the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots. Similar organizations also formed in the UK, Australia and Canada. The GLF p ...

. After their break-up at the end of the year, he had to move into his studio (on 10 East 23rd St) until mid-1972, and in the spring of 1973 he moved into a loft formerly occupied by

Jackie Curtis Jackie Curtis (born John Curtis Holder Jr.; February 19, 1947 – May 15, 1985) was an American underground actor, singer, and playwright best known as a Warhol superstars, Warhol superstar. Primarily a stage actor in New York City, Curtis per ...

above the Eden Theater in the East Village. Hujar transformed the space in such a way that he could live and work there for the rest of his life.

''Portraits in Life and Death''

At the end of 1974, Hujar had an exhibition at the Foto Gallery on 492 Broome St, alongside pictures by

Christopher Makos Christopher Makos (born 1948) is an American photographer and visual artist. Makos is known for his photographs of queer icons and pop stars, and of the male body. Makos apprenticed with photographer Man Ray, and assisted and collaborated with art ...

, where he didn't sell any of his work, but according to a friend gained a book contract with

Da Capo Press Da Capo Press is an American publishing company with headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts. It is now an imprint of Hachette Books. History Founded in 1964 as a publisher of music books, as a division of Plenum Publishers, it had additional offi ...

. In the following months, he took many portraits to include in the book. Besides his friends like

Susan Sontag Susan Lee Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, critic, and public intellectual. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay "Notes on "Camp", Notes on 'Ca ...

Fran Lebowitz Frances Ann Lebowitz (; born October 27, 1950) is an American author, public speaker, and actor. She is known for her sardonic social commentary on American life as filtered through her New York City sensibilities and her association with many p ...

, and

Vince Aletti Vince Aletti (born 1945) is a curator, writer, and photography critic. Career Music industry Aletti was a contributing writer for ''Rolling Stone'' from 1970 to 1989. He was the first person to write about disco, on 13 September 1973, in ''Disc ...

, he portrayed artists like

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses Drag (entertainment), drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate Femininity, female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have ...

actor

Divine Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a singl ...

and writer

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist. He is widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major Postmodern literature, postmodern author who influen ...

. In the final book published in 1976, the portraits were juxtaposed by a selection of the pictures he took of the corpses in the Catacombs of Palermo in 1963. Susan Sontag (in a hospital at the time) wrote an introduction for the sequence of 41 images of ''Portraits in Life and Death''. The book got a tepid reception, and only later became a classic in American photography; it was reissued in 2024.

The 1980s

In early 1981, Hujar met the young artist

David Wojnarowicz David Michael Wojnarowicz ( ; September 14, 1954 – July 22, 1992) was an American painter, photographer, writer, filmmaker, performance artist, songwriter/recording artist, and HIV/AIDS activism, AIDS activist prominent in the East Village, Ma ...

, and after a brief period as Hujar's lover, Wojnarowicz became a protégé linked to Hujar for the remainder of the photographer's life. Hujar remained instrumental in all phases of Wojnarowicz's emergence as an important young artist. Another artist closely linked with Hujar is

Robert Mapplethorpe Robert Michael Mapplethorpe ( ; November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, best known for his black-and-white photographs. His work featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female Nude (art), n ...

. Both artists were gay white men who excelled at portrait photography and who made unashamedly homoerotic work that walked the line between pornography and fine art, but they were structural opposites. If Mapplethorpe reduced his subjects to abstract forms, his sitter's faces to masks, his nude models to sculptures, then Hujar emphasized his sitters' idiosyncrasies, their irreducible qualities, their human sentience over their fleshy geometry.Adams, Harrison. ''Photography in the First Person: Robert Mapplethorpe, Peter Hujar, Nan Goldin and Sally Mann'' (Dissertation). Yale University, 2018. "Orgasmic Man", one of Hujar's more memorable works, is also a key difference between his work and Mapplethorpe's; never once, in all of Mapplethorpe's editioned photographs, did he show orgasm or ejaculation nor did he depict the concomitant facial expressions. Hujar had a wide array of subjects in his photography, including cityscapes and urban still lifes, animals, nudes, abandoned buildings, and European ruins. His photography, which was mostly in black and white, has been described as conveying an intimacy, suggestive of both love and loss. One aspect of this intimate quality was Hujar's ability to connect with his sitters. One of his models was quoted after an unsuccessful session as saying: "We couldn't ‘reveal.' As an actor you have to reveal. And Hujar's big thing was that you had to reveal. I know that now, but I didn't know it at the time. In other words, blistering, blazing honesty directed towards the lens. No pissing about. No posing. No putting anything on. No camping around. Just flat, real who-you-are...You must strip down all the nonsense until you get to the bone. That's what Peter wanted and that was his great, great talent and skill." Hujar's portraits, the subject of the first half of the one book he published while he was alive, are simple; he almost never used props and the focus of his work was on the sitter as opposed to the backdrop of the shot. Usually, his subjects either were sitting or posing in a recumbent way.

Death and legacy

In January 1987, Hujar was diagnosed with

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

. He died 10 months later, aged 53, on November 25 at

Cabrini Medical Center Cabrini Medical Center of New York City was created in 1973 by a merger of two Manhattan hospitals. It closed in 2008 due to financial difficulties cited by the Berger Commission, followed by a bankruptcy filing. In January 2010, the five build ...

in New York. His funeral was held at

Church of St. Joseph in Greenwich Village The Church of St. Joseph in Greenwich Village is a Roman Catholic parish church located at 365 Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue) at the corner of Washington Place in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Constructe ...

, and he was buried at

Gate of Heaven Cemetery Gate of Heaven Cemetery, approximately 25 miles (40 km) north of New York City, was established in 1917 at 10 West Stevens Ave. in Hawthorne, Westchester County, New York, as a Catholic burial site. Among its famous residents is baseb ...

in Valhalla, New York. Hujar willed his estate to his lifelong friend Stephen Koch, who administers it since (today as Peter Hujar Archive). A first retrospective of Hujar's work in collaboration with the estate was shown two years after his death at the Grey Art Gallery & Study Center of New York University. It was followed by a more comprehensive show in 1994 by a joined effort of the

Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

(Netherlands) and the

Fotomuseum Winterthur Fotomuseum Winterthur is a museum of photography in Winterthur, Switzerland. History The museum was founded in 1993 by photographer George Reinhart, the nephew of the wealthy Swiss art collector Oskar Reinhart. ''Fotomuseum''s exabits are dedicat ...

in Switzerland. In 2013 the

Morgan Library & Museum The Morgan Library & Museum (originally known as the Pierpont Morgan Library and colloquially known the Morgan) is a museum and research library in New York City, New York, U.S. Completed in 1906 as the private library of the banker J. P. Morg ...

in New York acquired a hundred prints and the entirety of his written estate and all contact sheets from the Peter Hujar Archive. A collaboration between the Morgan Library and the Spanish

Mapfre Mapfre, S.A. (, officially typeset MAPFRE) is a Spanish multinational insurance company, based in Majadahonda, Madrid. The name comes from the old mutual origin of the company (''Mutualidad de la Agrupación de Propietarios de Fincas Rústica ...

Foundation enabled a major travelling retrospective exhibition that was accompanied by a comprehensive monograph published in conjunction with

Aperture In optics, the aperture of an optical system (including a system consisting of a single lens) is the hole or opening that primarily limits light propagated through the system. More specifically, the entrance pupil as the front side image o ...

in 2017.

Publications

* Peter Hujar. ''Portraits in Life and Death''. New York: Da Capo, 1976, , . Introduction by

. ** Reissue: New York: W. W. Norton / Liveright, 2024, . Foreword by Benjamin Moser. * Peter Weiermair (ed.). ''Peter Hujar''. Innsbruck, Austria: Allerheiligenpresse, 1981. Contributions by

Jean-Christophe Ammann Jean-Christophe Ammann (14 January 1939 – 13 September 2015) was a Swiss art historian and curator. Early life and education Born in Berlin, Ammann, son of a chemist, grew up in a German-speaking family in Fribourg. He actually wanted to become ...

and Dieter Hall. *''Peter Hujar''. New York: Grey Art Gallery & Study Center, New York University, 1990, . Texts by Stephen Koch and Thomas Sokolowski, interviews by

and

. * Urs Stahel, Hripsimé Visser (eds.). ''Peter Hujar: A Retrospective''. Zurich, Switzerland: Scalo, 1994, . Foreword by Urs Stahel, texts by Hripsimé Visser,

Max Kozloff Maxwell Kozloff (June 21, 1933 – April 6, 2025) was an American art historian, art critic of modern art, and photographer. He was art editor at ''The Nation'', and executive editor of ''Artforum''. His essay ''American Painting During the Cold ...

, and Stephen Koch; mementos by Jean-Christophe Amann,

Nan Goldin Nancy Goldin (born 1953) is an American photographer and activist. Her work explores in snapshot-style the emotions of the individual, in intimate relationships, and the Bohemian style, bohemian LGBT subcultural communities, especially dealing w ...

, Marvin Heiferman, John Heys, Fran Lebowitz a. o. *

Klaus Kertess Klaus Kertess (July 16, 1940, New York City, New York – October 8, 2016, New York City, New York) was an American art gallerist, art critic and curator (including of the 1995 Whitney Biennial). He grew up in Westchester County north of New York ...

. ''Peter Hujar: Animals and Nudes''. Santa Fe, New Mexico: Twin Palms, 2002, . *''Peter Hujar: Lost Downtown''. New York: Pace/MacGill Gallery; Göttingen:

Steidl Steidl is a German-language publisher based in Göttingen, Germany. Founded in 1968 by Gerhard Steidl, it publishes photobooks. Overview The company was started by Gerhard Steidl.Bill Kouwenhoven, "Off to see the wizard", ''British Journa ...

, 2016, . Text by Vince Aletti. *''Peter Hujar – Speed of Life''. Madrid:

Fundación Mapfre Fundación is a town and municipality of the Colombian Department of Magdalena. Its people are known as Fundanenses. The primary economic activity is livestock-raising, for production of both meat and milk. Other crops are: corn, yuca, o ...

; New York:

, 2017, ; original Spanish edition: ''A la velocidad de la vida,'' ; paperback edition in French, 2019, . Contributions by Philip Gefter, Joel Smith, Steve Turtell and Martha Scott Burton. * ''

Moyra Davey Moyra Davey (born 1958, Toronto, ON) is an artist known for her experimental films that take root in written monologues, her portraits, and her essays that pair photography and language. She works across photography, video, and writing, and has b ...

, Peter Hujar – The Shabbiness of Beauty.'' London: Mack, 2021, . * Linda Rosencrantz. ''Peter Hujar's Day,'' Magic Hour, 2022, . Transcription of the chronicle of Hujar's December 19, 1974 as told by him and recorded by Rosencrantz. Introduction by Stephen Koch. * Steve Lawrence with Peter Hujar and Andrew Ullrick (eds.). ''Newspaper.'' Primary Information, 2023, . Facsimile of all 14 issues from 1969 to 1971 in one book. * ''Peter Hujar: Rialto'', Rodovid Press 2024, . * Gary Schneider. ''Peter Hujar Behind the Camera and in the Darkroom.'' BookCrave (Artbook D.A.P.), 2024, .

Exhibitions

This list follows the comprehensive compilation of the exhibitions of Hujar's work until 2017 provided by Joel Smith in the Mapfre/Aperture monograph ''Speed of Life.'' All solo exhibitions in his lifetime are named here, while most group shows were omitted. *1974: as part of ''Recent Acquisitions'', Floating Foundation of Photography, New York *1975: ''Portfolio by Peter Hujar,'' Foto Gallery, New York (alongside ''

: Pictures from a Suitcase'') *1977: Catskill Center for Photography, Woodstock, New York *1978: ''Peter Hujar: Photographs,'' Port Washington Public Library, New York *1979: ''Peter Hujar: Recent Photographs,'' Marcuse Pfeifer Gallery, New York *1980: La Remise du Parc,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, Franc *1980: Tiroler Landesmuseen, Innsbruck ** Museum Moderner Kunst Wien *1981: ''Peter Hujar: Recent Photographs,'' Robert Samuel Gallery, New York *1982: ''Larry Clark / Peter Hujar'',

Frankfurter Kunstverein The Frankfurter Kunstverein e. V. in Frankfurt am Main is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the promotion of contemporary art and culture. It is one of the oldest German art associations. History The Frankfurter Kunstverein was founded in ...

, Germany (catalogue), expanded to ** ''Peter Hujar / Larry Clark / Robert Mapplethorpe,''

Kunsthalle Basel Kunsthalle Basel is a contemporary art gallery in Basel, Switzerland. As Switzerland's oldest and still most active institution for contemporary art established in the year of 1872, Kunsthalle Basel forms a vital part of Basel's cultural centre ...

, Basel, Switzerland *1982: Galerie Jurka, Amsterdam, the NetherlandsAccording to a listing compiled by the Fraenkel Gallery and provided as
Pdf
Retrieved October 9, 2024. *1982: Galerie Nagel, Berlin, Germany *1983: Forum Stadtpark,

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

, and Modern Art Galerie,

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, Austria *1986: ''Peter Hujar: Recent Photographs,''

Gracie Mansion Gallery Gracie Mansion Gallery was an art gallery in New York City founded by artist and dealer Gracie Mansion (née Joanne Mayhew-Young). It was an important site for the Lower East Side art scene of the 1980s. History Joanne Mayhew-Young changed her n ...

, New York

Posthumous exhibitions

After his death several commercial galleries showed his work in (solo) exhibitions, like James Danziger (1991, 1992, 1998), Paula Cooper (1993, 2002), Wessel and O'Connor (1998), all situated in New York, Stephen Daiter in Chicago, Yezerski in Boston, and Berinson in Berlin (all three in 1999), Rodolphe Janssen in Brussels (1996), Renée Ziegler (1990) and Mai 36 (2002, 2010) in Zurich, and

Maureen Paley Maureen Paley (born 1953Sleeman, Elizabeth (ed.) ''The International Who's Who of Women'' (London and New York: Routledge, 2002), p. 431. Entry on Paley available as snippet viehere/ref>) is the American owner of a contemporary art gallery in Be ...

and Marietta Neuss in London (both 2008). Closely engaged with the Peter Hujar Archive since the 2000s and regularly arranging shows of Hujar's work are Matthew Marks (first in 2000) and Pace/MacGill (since 2013) in New York, the

Fraenkel Gallery Fraenkel Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in San Francisco founded by Jeffrey Fraenkel in 1979. Daphne Palmer is president of the gallery. Fraenkel Gallery has presented more than 350 exhibitions, with a focus on photography and its relatio ...

in San Francisco (since 2002), and

in London (since 2008). Listed here are just the gallery shows which were accompanied by a catalogue, in addition to all solo shows in public institutions. *1989: Grey Art Gallery & Study Center, New York, and ** Fine Arts Gallery,

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

, Vancouver, Canada *1994: ''Peter Hujar: A Retrospective'',

, Netherlands, and **

, Switzerland **in 1995 as ''Peter Hujar. A Charm in Life and Death,''

Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg The Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg is an art museum in central Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, opened 1994. It presents modern and contemporary art and is financed by the ''Kunststiftung Volkswagen.'' It takes up aspects of the industrial city of Wolfsburg, whi ...

, Germany *1996: ''Peter Hujar: Das photographische Werk,'' DAAD-Galerie, Berlin, Germany (no catalogue) *1999: ''Peter Hujar: Intimate Survey,'' Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago, Illinois *2005: ''Peter Hujar – Night,'' Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, and ** Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco ** Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston ** Scalo Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland *2005:

P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center MoMA PS1 is a contemporary art institution at 2201 Jackson Avenue in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens in New York City, United States. In addition to its exhibitions, the institution organizes the Sunday Sessions performance series, th ...

, Long Island, New York *2007:

Institute of Contemporary Arts The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an modernism, artistic and cultural centre on The Mall (London), The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps a ...

, London *2008: ''Paul P. / When Ghost Meets Ghost / Peter Hujar,''

Gallery, London, UK *2009: ''Peter Hujar: Photographs 1956–1958,'' Matthew Marks Gallery, New York *2010: ''Peter Hujar: Thek's Studio 1967,'' Alexander von Bonin, New York, and ** Mai 36 Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland ** Maureen Paley Gallery, London *2014: ''Peter Hujar: Love & Lust,'' Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, California *2017–2019: ''Peter Hujar: Speed of Life'',

, Barcelona, Spain; traveled to ** Fotomuseum Den Hague, The Netherlands **

, New York **

Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA, formerly abbreviated as BAM/PFA) are a combined art museum, repertory movie theater, and film archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director ...

, California **

Wexner Center for the Arts The Wexner Center for the Arts is the Ohio State University's "multidisciplinary, international laboratory for the exploration and advancement of contemporary art." The Wexner Center is a lab and public gallery, but not an art museum, as it doe ...

, Columbus, Ohio ** Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France *2020: ''

, Peter Hujar,''

Galerie Buchholz Galerie Buchholz is an art gallery specializing in international contemporary art with exhibition spaces in Cologne, Berlin and New York City. The gallery was founded in Cologne in 1986 by Daniel Buchholz, and today is run jointly with Christophe ...

, Berlin *2022: ''Peter Hujar curated by

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

,'' Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco *2023: ''Peter Hujar: Performance and Portraiture,''

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

, Illinois *2024: ''Peter Hujar: Rialto,''

Ukrainian Museum The Ukrainian Museum, founded in 1976 by the Ukrainian National Women's League of America in New York City, is the largest museum of its kind outside of Ukraine and is dedicated to the enjoyment, understanding, and preservation of the artistic ...

, New York *2024: ''Peter Hujar: Portraits in Life and Death,'' Istituto Santa Maria della Pietà, Venice, Italy, on th occasion of the 60.

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

*2025: ''Peter Hujar: Eyes Open in the Dark'',

, London, 30 January – 6 April 2025.

Collections

Hujar's work is held in the following collections (a. o.):
USA *New York **

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

, Illinois *

Carnegie Museum of Art The Carnegie Museum of Art is an art museum in the Oakland (Pittsburgh), Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The museum was originally known as the Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute and was formerly located ...

, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania *

Dallas Museum of Art The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is an art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In the 1970s, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the A ...

, Dallas, Texas *

Fogg Museum The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...

, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts *

J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California, United States, housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. It is operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust, the world's wealthies ...

, Los Angeles, California * Museum of Fine Art, Boston, Massachusetts *

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 5,000 years of history with nearly 80,000 works from six continents. Follo ...

, Texas *

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art gallery, art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri, known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of A ...

, Kansas City, Missouri *

Saint Louis Art Museum The Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) is an art museum located in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. With paintings, sculptures, cultural objects, and ancient masterpieces from around the world, its three-story building stands in Forest Park in ...

, Missouri *

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...

, California *

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill, Minneapolis, Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in ...

, Minneapolis, Minnesota *

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is an art museum in New Haven, Connecticut. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University. Although it embraces all cultures and period ...

, New Haven, Connecticut UK and Europe *

Folkwang Museum Museum Folkwang is a major collection of 19th- and 20th-century art in Essen, Germany. The museum was established in 1922 by merging the Essener Kunstmuseum, which was founded in 1906, and the private Folkwang Museum of the collector and patr ...

Essen, Germany *

, Zurich, Switzerland *

Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow The Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) is the main gallery of contemporary art in Glasgow, Scotland. GoMA offers a programme of temporary exhibitions and workshops. GoMA displays work by local and international artists as well as addressing contempo ...

, Scotland *

, Amsterdam, the Netherlands *

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

Modern, London, UK: 10 prints (as of May 2021)

References

External links

Peter Hujar ArchiveMorgan Library & MuseumartnetVisual AIDSChristie's
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hujar, Peter 1934 births 1987 deaths American gay artists American LGBTQ photographers LGBTQ people from New Jersey Gay photographers AIDS-related deaths in New York (state) Burials at Gate of Heaven Cemetery (Hawthorne, New York) American people of Ukrainian descent Artists from Trenton, New Jersey 20th-century American photographers High School of Art and Design alumni 20th-century American LGBTQ people Photographers from New Jersey