Andrew Durbin’s dual biography of photographer Peter Hujar and artist Paul Thek is a captivating portrait of two rebels with an artistic cause and out lovers in the quasi-closeted art world of the 60s
For Peter and Paul, that wonderful world that almost was, did indeed seem in reach when they were both in their early 20s and met by chance in Florida in the late 50s, there for gig jobs to finance their artistic dreams. They returned to New York started their careers in earnest and caught up in the artistic turf of Greenwich Village.
Durbin conjures the mystique and ever feral culture of the 60s, which both inspired and pissed off Hujar and Thek enough to go in their own directions, for better or for worse. At various times they were at odds not only with the moneyed insular art world uptown, but even untethered to the gravitational pull of Warhol’s Factory.
Both artists were recipients of Fullbright Fellowships in their respective field. Hujar first, to study film in Rome and Thek joined him on the first of many trips they took anchored by commissions. But Inevitably they were separated for months at a time, for research, gallery commissions and extended projects and tours of their work in the US and abroad.
Pressures from their professional lives and personal lives took a toll on their relationship. In 1965 they rented a house in a remote area of Fire Island, which became a refuge for both artists. They had agreed on having an open relationship, an arrangement that had its ups and downs.
A pivotal time for Hujar was his 1963 exhibit of photo he shot in Palermo’s Capuchin Catacombs of petrified corpses that caused controversy and was a sensation even if many found the series difficult to look at. The photos meanwhile had a profound effect of Thek. Hujar later included the series in his book ‘Portraits of Life and Death’ published by De Capo Press.
Thek was also making art headlines in Europe with his visceral expressionism, visually arresting projects, notoriously, Technological Reliquaries exhibits that included his ‘meat pieces’ display in glass encasements, its themes a scathing symbolic statement at the era’s high culture. Thek stating “the idea of meat under Plexiglas because I thought it made fun of the scene, where the name of the game seemed to be ‘ how cool can you be’ and ‘how refined.’ Nobody ever mentioned anything that seemed real…. The world was falling apart. Anyone could see it.” Thek was also making wax sculptures and he even made a full wax cast of his own body for exhibition.
Writer Susan Sontag was close to both of them and wrote about their work in her Village Voice column, and didn’t hold back criticisms, which sometimes got in the way of their friendships. Sontag and Thek ended up having a serious affair and even considered having a child. Thek’s bisexuality also contributing to problems with his relationship with Hujar.
The swinging 60s didn’t always swing all the way for all.
Hujar had received more attention because of his increasingly edgy but charismatic personality, he was also being noticed for his unique artistry for photographic portraiture
Hujar’s created a non-performative studio atmosphere. Hujar’s had a real gift for portrait photography and his collectors included Avedon who thought him to be one of the best in the world. As well as celebrities, two of the most famous were and infamously Warhol star Candy Darling laid out in her coffin in Campbell’s Funeral Home before anyone was there, but former fuckbuddy and photographer David Wojnarowitcz arrived, saw him doing this and kicked him out but not before what is now one of Hujar’s most infamous photos.
Hujar’s most radical portraits were verite portraits from the sex piers off the meatpacking district in New York. Hujar started photographic nudes early on in his professional career. Hujar was adamant in defining the difference between his photography of men having sex and pornography.
He was “A genius about sex” media satirist Fran Liebowitz quipped, but it was more than that. Durbin delves into the early public displays of the post-Stonewall liberation era in New York vividly captured photo journalistically and as portraiture. Durbin writing “embraces queer spaces, the piers, subway johns…” and the baths where he shot nude self-portraits.
By the mid-1970s, Thek was creatively at odds with the field and it was taking its toll artistically and psychologically. When he was in Europe, he missed New York. And in New York, he missed Europe. Thek eventually withdrew for the social art world and lived in solitude in Ponza, Italy. Many of his days were spent painting on newspapers laid out on the floor of his room, what he called “working on my home soil.” The photos of these fragile art works still have a stunning visual impact and symbolic relevancy.
Hujar covered the gay male sexual waterfront with portraiture of the denizens of the notorious New York piers during the post-Stonewall 70s liberation demonstrated in its casualness on the harbor decks as a public stage for hook-ups, and the noir atmospherics of abandoned structures that were rotting over the Hudson. Photography was as much a way for Hujar to see not only what was directly in front of his eyes and lens, but also what lay hidden within him artistically and the inner lives of those in front of the camera.
After Peter Hujar was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS he was even more of recluse in his modest apartment, but otherwise very public as an AIDS activist and did many interviews about the AIDS patients faced. Both artists would die from AIDS related complications within a year of each other.
Some of Thek’s artworks and Hujar’s photos are featured in the book, one of the best is Hujar’s group of Pier 42, taken on Easter 1976. It’s a fabulous portrait of the piers is vintage Hujar who commented that the men on the piers “were cameras themselves.”
There has been renewed interest in Hujar’s life and work and Durbin’s biography comes on the heels of Ira Sach’s Dorian Award winning film ‘Peter Hujar’s Day’ starring Ben Whishaw. The film premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and is now a Janus Criterion Collection release.
