# Peter Hujar artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/peter-hujar/
Profile generated: 2026-08-24T20:42:34.328Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: American
- Common media: Photography, Black-and-white photography, Photographic portraiture

## Portrait

![Peter Hujar](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4b/Peter_Hujar_Self-Portrait_%28book_cover%29.jpg)
Peter Hujar · see-source-page
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hujar

## About Peter Hujar

Peter Hujar (1934–1987) was an American photographer closely associated with the Downtown New York City art scene. He is particularly known for black-and-white portraiture and for an attentive approach that allowed sitters to appear psychologically present rather than conventionally posed. Although his photography circulated within New York's creative community, museum accounts note that it remained relatively little known beyond that milieu during his lifetime. His reputation expanded considerably after his death. Hujar published the photobook Portraits in Life and Death in 1976, an important reference point within his documented body of work. Collectors may encounter his photographs as individual prints, portraits of identified or unidentified sitters, or images connected to published and exhibited contexts. His combination of formal restraint, close observation, and ties to Downtown New York culture has made accurate identification of the image, subject, date, and publication history important when researching a work attributed to him.

## Common works and media

Works encountered in collection and auction contexts are primarily photographs, especially black-and-white portraits. Cataloging may identify a sitter, title, image date, or relationship to Hujar's Downtown New York milieu and his 1976 photobook Portraits in Life and Death. The source pack does not support assuming a specific edition, print date, or production history for an unidentified print.

## Market and appraisal context

A Peter Hujar appraisal should distinguish the underlying photograph from the particular physical print being examined. Useful research points include the identified sitter or subject, documented title and image date, and any connection to Portraits in Life and Death or another established publication or exhibition context. Comparable public auction records are most informative when they concern the same image or a closely related photograph. The collected sources do not establish the edition, printing date, provenance, condition, or sale history of any individual object, so those details require print-specific documentation and inspection. Artist-level auction records should therefore be treated as context rather than as an automatic valuation.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine public artist-identity research with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. Object-specific conclusions still depend on the evidence attached to the individual work.

## Sources

- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/7159
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2075836
- IdRef: https://www.idref.fr/176301038
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/peter-hujar-11340
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500001826
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hujar
- Wikipedia: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hujar
- Appraisily: https://appraisily.com/artist/peter-hujar/