Peter Hujar typically used a square-format camera and placed his subjects in the center of the image against a neutral backdrop, as in the image seen here. But he is best known for his choice of sitters-downtown New York’s avant-garde artists-rather than his style. Ethyl Eichenberger, born James Roy Eichelberger (American, 1945-1990), drag performer, playwright, and actor, was the lead actor at the Trinity Repertory Company here in Providence in the late 1960s and early 1970s. After returning to New York, where he had studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, he changed his name to Ethyl and became an influential figure in experimental theater, performing solo works based on lives of great women in history. Here he plays a fictional figure from the pre-Civil War era, with costume and studio set-up reminiscent of the photography from that period.

Hujar has gained international attention only in recent years, but he was highly influential for a younger generation of artists including Robert Mapplethorpe and Nan Goldin, whose works are on view on the wall to your left.

Text: Risd Museum.