The subjects of Peter Hujar’s arresting black-and-white photographs from the 1950s through the 1980s were the citizens of his New York: the famous and niche-famous, beloved friends and sometime boyfriends, smoldering artists and playful drag performers, leather-clad lovers and distinguished pets. Mr. Hujar published only one monograph in his lifetime, “Portraits in Life and Death,” which features figures like John Waters, Fran Lebowitz and Susan Sontag alongside dozens of nameless remains from the Palermo catacombs.
When Mr. Hujar died in 1987, from complications of AIDS at age 53, he was so desperate for money that he had been trading his prints for medical care. Now, the Metropolitan Museum of Art holds his work, and original copies of “Portraits in Life and Death” that originally sold for $8.95 easily fetch a hundred times as much online. But as of Tuesday, his only book will sell for $75, as a republication from W. W. Norton.
John Waters, the filmmaker and ardent defender of bad taste, said that when he looks at his portrait from the book, he thinks, “Ahh, youth!” In the photo, Mr. Waters lies on striped bedding in a button-up shirt. “He caught you a little vulnerable because you’re in bed with a stranger, basically,” Mr. Waters, 78, said. “Peter made you look gritty, but good. And smart! That’s hard. A lot of smart people look ugly.”
Fran Lebowitz, the writer and wit, who lives in Manhattan, met Mr. Hujar in the early 1970s. He often visited her parents’ house, and Ms. Lebowitz still has the signed copy of “Portraits in Life and Death” that he gave to them. He photographed Ms. Lebowitz a few times, including for the monograph, but she wouldn’t allow him to take her picture for her book jacket. “This was the one fight I had with Peter,” Ms. Lebowitz, 73, said. She recalled telling him: “‘I don’t want a photograph of my soul on my book.’ That must be what I thought he was doing. He was a very profound person.”
Ms. Lebowitz said she was troubled by all the attention being lavished on her friend years after his death. “It’s upsetting,” she said, adding: “Peter was the poorest person I knew. He had nothing. He made zero money in his lifetime. Now all this attention is on him: This was exactly what he wanted in his life, and he didn’t get it.”
ImageMr. Hujar in 1986. He died a year later from complications of AIDS at age 53.Credit...Bob Berg/Getty ImagesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.
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