Text by Paul Thek. Photographs by Peter Hujar. Afterword by Andrew Durbin.
Follow the friendship and romance of storied artists Peter Hujar and Paul Thek, from the US to Italy and back again, through previously unpublished letters, postcards, candid portraits and contact sheets
This volume shines a spotlight on the deep relationship between Paul Thek (1933–88) and Peter Hujar (1934–87) through the artists' letters and photographs. The book opens with Hujar's early portraits capturing the beginnings of their relationship, including Thek's first letters to Hujar, written while aboard a containership en route to Europe, where the two would eventually meet in Rome. From there, the publication traces their evolution into the icons we know them as today, with the remaining letters tracing Thek's travels and adventures, romantic dalliances, work and financial ups and downs through 1975. Stay away from nothing reproduces more than 50 letters and postcards, along with drawings and other ephemera; their poetic, quotidian and melancholic tone provide a rare glimpse into Thek and Hujar's relationship as it wavers between seduction, glamour, tumult and mischievousness. Throughout this period, Hujar photographed Thek in his now iconic style, capturing him in Italy, in various studios and on the beaches of Fire Island. Included are the artist's now-classic images of Thek in the catacombs in Palermo, as well as his studio portraits of the artist creating The Tomb. Among these well-known works are dozens of other photographs and contact sheets, many unpublished until now, including candid portraits of Thek as well as images of the two artists goofing around or posing for passport photos. Collectively, these images demonstrate not only the complex emotional interiority of Thek but the tender, dark and hopeful connection between the two artists, lovers and friends.
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Some books, you flip through and you know immediately what they are. Others, you flip, you stop, you read, you look. You start over, emotions rising. You remember the most poetic moments in your own life. You remember fascination, infatuation, love, young friendship. Then also complexity, distance, yearning. Paul Thek and Peter Hujar: Stay away from nothing, releasing this week from Primary Information, is a book that sparks all of these deep feelings of future and past. Collecting contact sheets and photographs—both candid and composed—by Hujar alongside previously unpublished letters, postcards, drawings and items of ephemera by Thek, this deeply moving book presents a record of friendship, romance and creation across decades and continents. In his Afterward, Andrew Durban describes the years when both men were undertaking tremendous artistic leaps, “often in orbit of one another. Thek became a celebrated—if virtually unsellable—artist, and Hujar established himself in commercial photography. On his way to becoming one of the greatest portrait artists of all time, Hujar often photographed Thek, using him as a kind of testing ground for ideas.… His pictures captured the man who was his friend, lover, and brother, as well as Thek’s art. …Tender and introspective, these photographs are the most substantial documentation of a work now lost.” Conversely, “Thek regarded Hujar as more than a correspondent—he was a kind of sounding board. In his letters to Hujar, Thek hashed out ideas … confessed his deepest feelings about his work and state of mind. For a while, Thek craved any word from Hujar; a letter from him, especially when Thek was living abroad, grounded him. ‘You are a good strong brother,’ he wrote to Hujar, ‘and I take you with me wherever I go.’” continue to blog
FORMAT: Pbk, 9 x 12 in. / 192 pgs / 9 color / 35 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $30.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $42 ISBN: 9798988573685 PUBLISHER: Primary Information AVAILABLE: 11/18/2025 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Published by Primary Information. Text by Paul Thek. Photographs by Peter Hujar. Afterword by Andrew Durbin.
Follow the friendship and romance of storied artists Peter Hujar and Paul Thek, from the US to Italy and back again, through previously unpublished letters, postcards, candid portraits and contact sheets
This volume shines a spotlight on the deep relationship between Paul Thek (1933–88) and Peter Hujar (1934–87) through the artists' letters and photographs. The book opens with Hujar's early portraits capturing the beginnings of their relationship, including Thek's first letters to Hujar, written while aboard a containership en route to Europe, where the two would eventually meet in Rome. From there, the publication traces their evolution into the icons we know them as today, with the remaining letters tracing Thek's travels and adventures, romantic dalliances, work and financial ups and downs through 1975.
Stay away from nothing reproduces more than 50 letters and postcards, along with drawings and other ephemera; their poetic, quotidian and melancholic tone provide a rare glimpse into Thek and Hujar's relationship as it wavers between seduction, glamour, tumult and mischievousness. Throughout this period, Hujar photographed Thek in his now iconic style, capturing him in Italy, in various studios and on the beaches of Fire Island. Included are the artist's now-classic images of Thek in the catacombs in Palermo, as well as his studio portraits of the artist creating The Tomb. Among these well-known works are dozens of other photographs and contact sheets, many unpublished until now, including candid portraits of Thek as well as images of the two artists goofing around or posing for passport photos. Collectively, these images demonstrate not only the complex emotional interiority of Thek but the tender, dark and hopeful connection between the two artists, lovers and friends.
