7Peter Hujar: The Gracie Mansion Show Revisited<\/a><\/p>\n Envisioned as a mid-career survey comprising 70 meticulously crafted silver gelatin prints, Recent Photographs features Hujar\u2019s signature portraits of friends and artists, tender nudes, raw landscapes, animals both dead and alive, and abandoned buildings hung in a grid two rows high. Evoking the pictorial paradise of his 1970s periodical, Newspaper<\/a>, Hujar deftly wove images of fashion designer Charles James, drag performer Ethyl Eichelberger, Vogue editor Diana Vreeland<\/a>, and jazz singer Peggy Lee into his sweeping vista of life, alongside portraits of Black men from his Mental Outpatient Series made in 1981, the year then-President Ronald Reagan deinstitutionalised state psychiatric hospitals, expelling patients into the streets to fend for themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hujar was an egalitarian, seeing beauty and truth as that which unites us in life and in death. He had arrived fully formed and had grown to become a creative force that existed beyond the trappings of commerce and careerism. Rather, he aligned himself with people of like mind, like his friend David Wojnarowicz<\/a>, an artist who was then represented by artist and art dealer Gracie Mansion. \u201cDavid came to me and asked if I would do a show for Peter. There was no hesitation. I was honoured,\u201d says Mansion. \u201cPeter had a strong presence. He carried himself with a power and a dynamic feel. You knew that he was a genius and he knew it too.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Mansion embodied the ethos of the East Village avant garde, a world of artist-run galleries that worked as comrades and collaborators. She recognised the role of curation belonged to the exhibiting artist and created space for Hujar to bring his vision to life in the front room of the gallery. \u201cIt was impeccable,\u201d Mansion remembers. \u201cAll day long, Peter was moving these pieces around. It was this dance. When it was done, I took the first walk through the exhibition and understood Peter in a different way. They\u2019re all equal, and they\u2019re all portraits.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Nearly 40 years later, Hujar\u2019s vision feels prescient, portending the endless digital scroll where seemingly disparate images suggest new connections. The Gracie Mansion Show Revisited stands as a testament to staying true to one\u2019s inner vision for both the artist and gallery. \u201cPeter Hujar didn\u2019t really trust dealers; he didn\u2019t like the way they represented his work and felt like they were ripping him off,\u201d says artist and curator Sur Rodney (Sur), who was also co-director of the gallery. \u201cPeople have asked if he was difficult because they heard he could be demanding, and we said, No, we gave him everything he wanted so he didn\u2019t have anything to complain about.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Sur sat in the Oak Room, a custom wood office with sliding glass doors and glass window panes, located in the front of the gallery. Hujar often joined him in this semi-private space, where he could relax and watch the scene outside of the spotlight. \u201cI couldn\u2019t tell you what we talked about, but I do remember Peter laughing a lot,\u201d says Sur. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t theatrical, dramatic, or overly expressive but he was great at telling a story. He always had a sense of being centred in himself, very comfortable talking to anyone. He was like that with animals, too; he\u2019d have long conversations with animals in the field.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Hujar installed his 1978 photograph, Cow, a lustrous, sloe-eyed bovine with a jaunty bit of hay draped from its lips, in the window of the gallery. It was, he told Sur, a self-portrait. Beyond the high cheekbones and streamlined physique, the artist and sitter seemed to share a moment of mutual recognition. Perhaps it was a throwback to his youth on his maternal Ukrainian grandparents\u2019 farm in Ewing Township, New Jersey, where animals became his early friends and confidantes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a>
![\"Peter](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/463621.jpg\")
Peter Hujar, Greer Lankton in a Fashion Pose, 1983\u00a9 2025 The Peter Hujar Archive \/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, and Pace Gallery, New York<\/p>\n<\/a>
![\"Peter](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/463622.jpg\")
Peter Hujar, Trees and Leaves, Caven Point, 1984\u00a9 2025 The Peter Hujar Archive \/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, and Pace Gallery, New York<\/p>\n