Vince Aletti once wrote that Peter Hujar was the most angry person he knew. Hujar is prone to outbreaks and has a bad temper, which has led to friends and commissions in the art world. But you won’t guess this by looking at his pictures. Of all his works, Hujar died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1987, and he favors the carefully constructed, carefully constructed work. Although his work illustrates a clear time and place – the 1970s and 1980s Downtown New York – Chahar’s black and white images embody eternal humanism. They are gentle, not fanatical, and are one of the best portraits taken in the 20th century.
London’s Ravens Gallery “Peter Hujar – Opening Eyes in the Dark” is the first exhibition to cover Hujar’s later works. Curated by Hujar’s biographer John Douglas Millar, and Hujar’s close friends Gary Schneider and Raven Row director Alex Sainsbury, the exhibition demonstrates Hujar’s huge interest. Pictures of animals: dogs, turkeys, and a cow, all give the same dignity and prominence as any nanny. There is a city view. Hujar does not define the mess of Meyerowitz or Gilden images in photos in New York. His photos of the Sixth Avenue skyscraper are incredible. It seems that the city only has steel, not people.
In the New York socio-political environment of the 1970s, several images were clearly rooted in Hegar, a post-pass city that bears uncomfortable burdens of sexual liberation as the AIDS crisis gradually became deeply rooted in the crowd. In 1970, a photo of Hujar was copied as a poster of the Gay Liberation Front, the first recruitment poster of the gay pride parade ever. But over time, the image of Hojar represents a meditation that shifts from sexual freedom to loss as thousands of homosexuals die and the government fails to act. Most moving are a series of images from the Hudson River, which was recorded in 1989 in the 1989 group show “Witness: Opposing Our Disappearance.” The show was organized by Nan Goldin and carefully planned to express losses and anger at the official inaction about the AIDS epidemic. But Hojar’s Hudson image is not angry: they feel reflective sadness when they look at them in the background after his death. Fighting the waves invites mourning and reflection. They are one of the most beautiful in the exhibition.
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But it is Hujar’s portrait that defines the show. There are some famous faces in the room downstairs: Susan Sontag, Fran Lebowitz and Candy Dear, they are all lying in bed or on the bed. Other topics include William Burroughs and John Waters. Despite being relatively unaware of the public, Hojar was certainly a popular figure in the 1970s New York creative scene, although his photos were too intimate to be classified as a “celebrity” study.
But the most attractive and lasting image is not the celebrities, but the friends and lovers of Hojar. Several of his lovers, David Wojnarowicz, are also about to die of AIDS. Hujar’s semi-nude self-portrait is also a study of constraints. The closest we are to confrontation is the photo of the dancer Bruce de Sainte Croix maintaining an erection, but even this image is a beautiful study of form and desire rather than aggressiveness. The photos balance formal simplicity with subjective conspiracy in the way of Echo Avedon (who is a serious collector of Hujar’s work), but are very different in social commentary and gay-craved marriages.
Peter Hujar died in 1987 on Thanksgiving. The three most memorable images were not taken by Hujar, but by Wojnarowicz. They showed themselves to Hohaal after his death. His lifeless face was even more sad than his subject’s liveliness. Even without these death images, the collection of favorites is hanging. The gay scenes in New York in the 1970s/80s will be inseparable from the AIDS context. Every happy image is also waiting around the corner with tragedy.
However, these images are simply irresistible. They were carefully planned to tie up different photos like late-night parties, where people found various characters mixed together. Corpse choreographed into abstract shapes hangs on the empty corridor of the cruise attractions. Each photo causes contemplation and repeated viewing. Then there are the faces: some naughty, some melancholy, all make the shots of Hojar beautiful in their own way. In short, the exhibition is one of the best in London in recent years.
“Peter Hujar – Open eyes in the darkUntil 6 April 2025, the Raven Row Gallery in London.
