?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 9,000 - $ 12,000
PETER HUJAR (1934-1987) Leg--Paul H. Silver print, the image measuring 14 7/8x14 3/4 inches (37.8x37.5 cm.), the sheet 20x16 inches (50.8x40.6 cm.), with Hujar's signature, title, edition notation 4/15, numeric or inventory notation 846, and date, in ink, on verso. 1979
Acquired directly from the Photographer; to a Private New York Collector.
Although this image is sometimes identified as "Paul Thek's leg, shot in Hujar's studio," according to the Hujar Archive, the subject is actually Paul Hudson.
In correspondence with Stephen Koch, director, the Peter Hujar Archive LLC, the photographer's creative approach to "editioning" was as follows: "Peter never completed a full edition of any of his images. He frequently would note that he had considered making a full numbered edition and sometimes used a stamp saying that there was to be an edition of fifteen, or as in the case of 'Paul H's Leg' he would simply number 4/15. The notation is meaningless. It signifies nothing more than that he liked the picture and was satisfied with it. He always began these non-existent editions with 4/15, thinking that if there was demand (which there never was) he would make better prints and call 3/15, or 2/15. The likelihood is that the print [of Paul H.'s Leg] in your possession, was the first acceptable print he made."
