Author and Frieze Magazine editor-in-chief Andrew Durbin has released a dual biography titled 'The Wonderful World That Almost Was,' chronicling the lives and creative partnership of Peter Hujar and Paul Thek. The book focuses on their relationship from the mid-1950s through the 1970s, detailing their collaborative influence and the development of their respective practices in photography and sculpture before both died of AIDS-related complications in the late 1980s.
This publication represents a significant effort in queer art history to reclaim the narratives of artists lost during the AIDS crisis, moving beyond a lens of tragedy to highlight their living contributions. As Hujar’s photography gains renewed mainstream visibility and Thek’s ephemeral installations undergo critical re-evaluation, Durbin’s research preserves firsthand accounts from a disappearing generation of witnesses to the 20th-century New York avant-garde.