The Wonderful World that Almost Was by Andrew Durbin

The Wonderful World that Almost Was : A Life of Peter Hujar and Paul Thek by Andrew Durbin 
 
Publishes 23 April
 
The work of photographer Peter Hujar defined downtown New York in the 1970s and 1980s. Paul Thek was an American sculptor and painter. Hujar and Thek met in 1956 and shared a strong intellectual and artistic connection that influenced the work of both artists.

The Wonderful World That Almost Was follows the development of the intense friendship - and romance - between them, from their first encounter in Miami to the painful end of their friendship in the mid-1970s. It was during that period that Hujar and Thek produced some of their most famous and significant works, and this biography traces the ways in which these artists' work directly and indirectly influenced both one another and the wider cultural sphere, and features the large circle of friends and artists they shared, from Andy Warhol and Fran Lebowitz, to Susan Sontag and David Wojnarowicz.
 
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'This is a great American love story that is also an indispensable account of the growth and emergence of Peter Hujar and Paul Thek as influential artists.' - Colm Tóibín
 
'Like an archaeologist sifting through the plastic rubble of the recent past, Andrew Durbin has peeled back layers and layers to reveal two artists once dismissed as "footnotes", restoring them and their lost world to a central place in our history. As official narratives everywhere strain and crack, Peter and Paul - and Durbin - offer a desperately needed alternative way of seeing and being.' - Ben Moser
 
'An era long lost becomes vividly tangible in these pages. Surprisingly relevant for today, the two protagonists' paths through the 1950s and 60s pre-Stonewall times shine up in ways I had never been able to grasp before. Andrew Durbin turns his almost forensic research into a seriously entertaining read.' - Wolfgang Tillmans