Inside the seductive and mischievous relationship between Paul Thek and Peter Hujar

‘You are a good strong brother… and I take you with me wherever I go,’ Paul Thek wrote to Peter Hujar in 1975, alluding to a deep relationship that criss-crossed countries and decades.

Until now, little has been known about the friendship between the two creatives, who formed a deep bond as they both achieved critical success, Thek as an artist, Hujar as a photographer. Originally meeting through Thek’s best friend, Susan Sontag, the duo were both key members of the 1960s New York scene, doing screen tests for Andy Warhol and becoming part of his The Thirteen Most Beautiful Boys series of screen tests before going down their own individual paths.

The ensuing journey, linked by a friendship, is now the subject of a new book, Paul Thek and Peter Hujar: Stay away from nothing, which features more than 50 of Thek’s unpublished letters and postcards from 1965 to 1975 alongside Hujar’s photographs of Thek, and of the two of them together.

‘There is so little out there about their relationship that reading the letters gave me the feeling that I was all of a sudden immersed in their lives and relationship,’ says book editor Francis Schichtel. ‘They read like a novel. Having said that, there are still so many things left unanswered, and that is something that I love. We see glimpses, but the mystery persists. Today, there is a sense that everyone knows everything about people's lives, and I relish the time when that wasn’t the case. There is definitely something about this type of communication; the physicality and ephemeral quality, which feels like the perfect antidote to how we all live today.’

In the letters and photographs reproduced here, we are afforded an insight into a relationship which could be seductive, gentle, cheeky or turbulent. The book traces the timeline of the letters and photographs, from 1965 to 1975, as both creatives were establishing their now-distinctive styles. Hujar’s photographs of Thek, in Italy, in studios, on Fire Island beaches or in Palermo catacombs, reveal both his skill and the depth of his feeling for his friend.

‘Throughout the letters, Paul talks about his work a lot, using Peter as a sounding board,’ adds Schichtel. ‘Paul was constantly asking Peter for help and advice – even help on a pragmatic level. I love one letter where he asks Peter to send butterfly wings and sunscreen from New York to Italy. Those kinds of things happen throughout, and the details make it so rich.’

‘In Peter’s photos, you witness their visit to the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, a day which you could trace back to the root of so much of both their work. Death was such a subject of fascination for them both – Paul’s meat pieces and the famous Tomb [Thek’s 1967 installation, an effigy of himself laid to rest in a pink tomb], and Peter’s first and only book, Portraits in Life and Death. Those photos in the catacombs were the starting point for that book. In one letter, Paul makes suggestions on how that book should operate, and even though Peter doesn’t take his advice, that dialogue is going on.’

Candid portraits and thoughtful letters hint at the vulnerability of both Thek and Hujar. ‘Like any relationship, we see theirs evolve, from romantic partners to close friends to brothers to not talking to each other. It runs the gamut. It’s amazing to see them both as young men, both so gorgeous, and then seeing physical changes – and stylistic changes to Peter’s photos – as time goes by.’

Paul Thek and Peter Hujar: Stay away from nothing is published by Primary Information, available from primaryinformation.org