When Peter Hujar (1934–1987) died at the age of fifty-three, his remarkable oeuvre fell into neglect. Sporadic exhibitions and catalogues failed to give Hujar his critical due or make the work widely accessible. Now, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of his first book, Portraits in Life and Death (1976), a concerted effort to exhibit and publish Hujar's work has begun.

This book is a prelude to upcoming exhibitions examining Hujar's incomparable portraits of animals and nudes, all of which he considered self-portraits. A student of Lisette Model, admirer of August Sander, and friend of Diane Arbus, Hujar made his photographs distinctly his own: a perfect and unmistakable mirror of his own body and milieu.