Hal Hirshorn, a distinguished artist renowned for his deep involvement in New York City’s cultural scene yet distinctively separated from its commercial fervor, passed away on February 4 at the age of 60. He died from coronary artery disease at a friend’s Manhattan apartment while attending the opening of a group exhibition, “Let There Be Light,” at the Church of the Heavenly Rest on the Upper East Side. His sister, Harriet Hirshorn, confirmed the cause of death.
Despite his involvement in the art world, Hirshorn defied the pressures that often accompany it. While many artists of his era were swept up in the market-driven art boom of the past three decades, he remained aloof from commercial success, rarely offering his work for sale in galleries. His minimalist website displayed only a few of his paintings and photographs, without any personal information or contact details.
Hirshorn’s art was defined by its analog methods. Using traditional ingredients to create his own paints and scavenging antique camera parts from flea markets, he embraced the old-fashioned in a world consumed by the new. His landscape paintings, characterized by earthy greens and muted autumn hues, evoked the atmospheric qualities of the 19th-century painter J.M.W. Turner, often obscured by mist and swirling clouds. His photographs, similarly, seemed suspended in time, created with a rare 19th-century photographic technique involving salt and silver. This labor-intensive process, which involved long exposures and created an inherent blur, resulted in ethereal, timeless images of women engaged in domestic tasks or in nude poses. In some cases, Hirshorn would use makeup to create the illusion of dirty feet, enhancing the realism of his scenes.
Throughout his career, Hirshorn explored themes of mortality and history. One of his notable works involved re-enacting a 19th-century funeral for Seabury Tredwell, a wealthy Manhattanite who died in 1865. The photo series captured the procession from the Merchant’s House Museum to the New York City Marble Cemetery. This work exemplified Hirshorn’s approach of referencing past artistic movements in personal and contemporary ways, as described by Geoffrey Berliner, a close friend and photographer.
Hirshorn was a familiar face within New York’s art circles, often seen at gallery openings or simply strolling through Central Park. His friends described him as “Zelig-like,” always appearing unexpectedly at various cultural events. Despite his constant presence in the city, Hirshorn maintained a mysterious and enigmatic persona. His sparse LinkedIn profile simply described him as an “artist at everything and nothing,” reflecting his humble, almost whimsical view of his identity.
Born on January 12, 1965, in Philadelphia, Hirshorn was the son of Bruce Hirshorn, a Foreign Service officer, and Anne Sue Friedberg, an art historian. His nomadic childhood took him to Brussels, London, Hong Kong, and Washington before he settled in New York in 1989. It was during this period that he discovered his love for art, particularly the East Village’s art scene, which had started to feel the effects of gentrification. Hirshorn chose to live in a small, rent-controlled apartment near Washington Square Park, where he filled the space with camera parts, books, and other artistic ephemera, maintaining a modest, minimalistic lifestyle.
Hirshorn’s art was deeply personal, focused on the inner dialogue between the artist and his work, according to his close friend, artist Tom Sachs. “None of that matters compared to your inner dialogue of why you make art,” Sachs said, reflecting on Hirshorn’s deeply introspective approach to his creative process.
In his final project, Hirshorn traveled with his longtime friend Jeremy Hutchins to Midland, Georgia, to document a 19th-century African American cemetery at Pierce Chapel. Hirshorn had planned to create a photographic series to highlight the efforts of Black preservationists restoring the site, but he passed away before completing the work. Hutchins hopes to finish the project this year, and Hirshorn’s legacy will be further honored with a posthumous exhibit of his art and his collection of antique cameras at the Ethan Cohen Gallery in Chelsea, Manhattan, later this month.
Hal Hirshorn leaves behind a legacy of haunting, analog art that continues to inspire those who value creative freedom unencumbered by market forces. He is survived by his sister Harriet and his brothers, Barry and Dalton.
