Andrew Durbin's Dual Biography Maps the Worlds of Paul Thek and Peter Hujar
Andrew Durbin's dual biography, "The Wonderful World That Almost Was," was released by FSG in 2026. The book explores the lives of artists Paul Thek and Peter Hujar, who first met in Coral Gables, Florida in 1956 and became romantically involved in 1960. Both men faced tragic ends due to AIDS-related complications, with Thek passing in 1987 and Hujar in 1988. Thek, an alumnus of Cooper Union, created art across various locations, including a restoration project in Ponza, Italy. Works by Thek are currently exhibited at Pace Gallery in New York.
Key facts
- Andrew Durbin's dual biography 'The Wonderful World That Almost Was' was published by FSG in 2026.
- Paul Thek and Peter Hujar met in Coral Gables, Florida in 1956 and became lovers in 1960.
- Thek died in 1987 and Hujar in 1988 from AIDS-related complications.
- Thek studied at Cooper Union and wandered through Florida, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Sicily, and Fire Island.
- Hujar moved to New York in 1946 and spent summers on Fire Island with Thek.
- Thek restored a painting in the church of Madonna della Civita on Ponza, Italy in the early 1970s.
- Thek's works are on view at Pace Gallery in New York.
- Susan Stryker gave a reading at Performance Space New York in April 2025 on queer and anti-Zionist Jewish kinship.
Entities
Artists
- Paul Thek
- Peter Hujar
- Andrew Durbin
- Peter Harvey
- Joseph Raffael
- Ann Wilson
- Ana Mendieta
- Richard Flood
- Charlie Porter
- Susan Stryker
- Alex Da Corte
- Mike Kelley
- Susan Sontag
- Candy Darling
- David Wojnarowicz
- Linda Rosenkrantz
- Shayla Bay Cole
- Anne Wilson
- Andy Warhol
- Fran Lebowitz
- Cy Twombly
- Tennessee Williams
- Gore Vidal
- Alex Katz
Institutions
- FSG
- Pace Gallery
- Cooper Union
- Performance Space New York
- Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum
- The Watermill Center
- The Peter Hujar Archive
- Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
- Matthew Marks Gallery
- Morgan Library
- Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Liveright Publishing
- Artists Rights Society (ARS)
- Whitney Museum of American Art
- Hyperallergic
- Granta
Locations
- New York
- Coral Gables
- Florida
- Fire Island
- Oakleyville
- Cherry Grove
- Ocean Bay Park
- Palermo
- Italy
- Sicily
- Ponza
- Lazio
- Rhode Island
- Massachusetts
- Nantucket
- Rome
- Duisburg
- West Germany
- New Jersey
- Brooklyn
- Wooster Street
- Key West
- United States