Peter Hujar: A Retrospective

Peter Hujar: A Retrospective is the catalogue published by Scalo in 1994 to accompany the first major museum retrospective of the photographer's work, organized by the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and Fotomuseum Winterthur. Edited by Urs Stahel and Hripsimé Visser with a critical essay by Max Kozloff, the volume gathers Hujar's portraits of cultural figures from his downtown New York circle—including Susan Sontag, William S. Burroughs, David Wojnarowicz, John Waters, and Andy Warhol—alongside his unsentimental studies of farm animals, dogs, seascapes, and architectural interiors. Hujar (1934–1987) photographed his subjects with what one writer called "undramatic concentration," pursuing essences rather than personality and treating animals, landscapes, and people with the same formal gravity. Released seven years after Hujar's death from AIDS-related illness, this catalogue marked the beginning of the international institutional recognition that had largely eluded him during his lifetime, and it remains the foundational survey publication on his work.