It is often revealing when one artist organizes another. Selections can say as much about the curator as the subject.
“Peter Hujar Curated by Elton John”, the new photo exhibition at the Fraenkel Gallery, is fascinating because of what we know of both John’s biography and tastes and the quality of Hujar’s work.
The “Candle in the Wind” singer has been a part of pop culture for more than five decades. He has a current hit, the duet “Hold Me Closer” with Britney Spears, and at 75 he is embarking on his “Farewell, Yellow Brick Road” tour which will take him to Levi’s Stadium on October 8-9.
Hujar was a photographer known for his black-and-white portraits that frequently focused on New York nightlife and artistic figures in the 1970s and 1980s. Among his most famous portraits are Warhol superstar Candy Darling on her bed of death and a reclining view of writer Fran Lebowitz in bed. A gay man, Hujar portrayed his male nudes with an earthy and eerie gaze, notably different from the slick and idealized view of the male form by his contemporary Robert Mapplethorpe.
During his lifetime, Hujar was “an artist known and revered by other artists”, according to gallerist Jeffrey Fraenkel, but generally not well recognized. After his death in 1987 from AIDS at the age of 53, his reputation remained under the radar until the turn of the millennium, when Fraenkel began representing the estate in 2001.
John has been a noted photography collector since the early 1990s. He bought his first Hujar in 2011 and now owns over 20. In 1992 he founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation; the first two prints sold at the Fraenkel fair will benefit the organization.
“Hujar’s humanity, depth and sensuous insights are not for everyone, and don’t need to be, but once his images enter your bloodstream, they are impossible to shake” , John wrote in the show’s companion book.
Perhaps the most anticipated theme that John explores in the 50 images on display is that of the other performers. A portrait of Peggy Lee from 1974 (of which John owns a copy) shows the middle-aged singer, beautiful with her frosted make-up and blonde headdress, but toughened up. San Francisco cockettes Kreemah Ritz, Link Martin and John Rothermel are shown in full glamorous dragée, and playwright Ethyl Eichelberger is shown dressed as Nefertiti, in a hoop skirt as “Auntie Belle Emme”, in costume and nude.
While there is joy and pomp in these images that one often associates with John’s gloriously extravagant stage performances, he also selected photographs of playwright Jackie Curtis in a hospital bed and lying in her coffin, died of a heroin overdose at age 38. John has been public about his own recovery from addiction, and he’s clearly not afraid to confront some of the darker themes in Hujar’s work.
Among the images of the male form, a 1981 clothed portrait of performer John Kelly is both sultry and technically stunning as the play of light and shadow highlights his exposed chest and illuminates the ridges of his cheekbones. A nude by writer and activist Robert Levithan is a mix of eros and playfulness as he stares at the camera, lips puckered, his hand touching his curly hair and himself. “Canal Street Piers: A Strongman’s Painting” from 1983 shows an abandoned gay space fallen into disrepair, but a muscular mural still intact on a crumbling wall, powerful in its marriage of decay and idealized physicality.
For anyone who has seen John’s biopic “Rocketman,” with its depiction of his strained relationship with his mother, Sheila Dwight, it’s hard not to see a similar tension in Hujar’s self-portrait with his own particularly difficult mother, Rose. Murphy, from 1977.
“This exhibition was so important to us,” said Newell Harbin, director of the Sir Elton John Photography Collection.
Harbin worked with John on the selections for the show and said it provided him with a unique opportunity to combine his passion for photography and fundraising for HIV/AIDS causes.
“Hujar is part of the generation we lost, and his work is just amazing,” added Harbin. “It’s puzzling, it deserves to be seen.”
The final image of the show, 1973’s “Clown’s Trunk,” is of an open theatrical tour box backstage. It feels like a touching reminder of John’s upcoming retirement from the road.
“Peter Hujar organized by Elton John”: 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to Friday; 11am-5pm Saturday. Until October 22. Free. Fraenkel Gallery, 49 Geary St., SF 415-981-2661. www.fraenkelgallery.com