Peter Hujar: Lost Downtown

This book is gorgeous--beautifully printed, large pages, yet not very heavy. I guess that is the one downside--this is a fairly limited collection of work, and leaves you wishing for a bit more. Still, for under $20, this book would be worth it just for the amazing cover photo of Susan Sontag. For the same price as a pizza and a beer, you can get this book for your coffee table and all your friends will admire you for your exquisite taste. Seriously, Peter Hujar is as good as photography gets.

A very beautifully produced Exhibition Monograph of some of Peter Hujar's finest and most representative images: Cool, meditative, essential, and PERFECT icon-images that have not been surpassed by anyone in contemporary photography, whose emphasis on hectic, grisly, even violent-prone imagery is deplorable: Pseudo-hip photographers trying to duplicate the meretricious cinematic style of Quentin Tarantino. As a portrait photographer, Hujar will be regarded as the greatest of ALL American photographers of the latter-half of the 20th century, Greater, in my opinion, than even Avedon, with whom he has a lot in common: They both follow a rigorous, pared-down, Minimalist aesthetic although Avedon can often leave one cold whereas Hujar's imagery is suffused with warmth and ardor. They both photographed the catacombs in Italy, with Hujar's being far superior to Avedon's. I would have preferred MORE images from the same sequence that this collection is culled, "Portraits In Life And Death"(1976, long out-of-print). Indeed, I would not have minded at all a fresh, all-new production of that book in its totality, but there were apparently some internal issues that prevented this from being realized. And it would also have been nice to reproduce, as an Appendix, Susan Sontag'es brilliant Introductory Essay, in the same manner that it is HER iconic portrait that graces the cover, an exquisite choice that could not be improved upon. But this is a minor quibble. The production values of this collection are superior and exemplary in every respect, as one has come to expect of German photography book publishing, BRAVO!

This book is a sparse sampling of Hujar's photographic portraits of his friends, mostly downtown artists and cultural outsiders who would be familiar to readers who remember NYC in the 60s-80s. Vince Aletti's Preface is brief (one page) and does not pretend to be an authorative examination of Hujar's amazing talent. His brief captions to the portraits are tender, personal, and somewhat sad. I liked that he used the verbal phrase "make photographs" (rather than "take photographs"). This word choice, to me, is significant suggesting the wonder of creation rather than the invasiveness and "soul-snatching" aspect of photography. To get an interesting take on Hujar's relationships to his artistic friends pick up Cynthia Carr's richly detailed biography of David Wojnarowicz, Fire in the Belly.

a beautiful, clean book, thank you.

Great work , impressive printing

I'm sorry but this is a nickel tour re-packaging of many photos already out there. Would love to see some of Hujar's lesser known work.

Just ok portraits of fringe type artists.

A bit larger than a double gatefold LP, this beautifully produced monograph of 15 photographs is essential for under $20.I won't ever forget opening this book up, and flipping through each page for the first time.

It was a gift and I left the cellophane on.