Paul Thek (November 2, 1933 – August 10, 1988) was an American painter, sculptor and

installation art Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called ...

ist. Thek was active in both the United States and Europe, exhibiting several installations and sculptural works over the course of his life. Posthumously, he has been widely exhibited throughout the United States and Europe, and his work is held in numerous collections including the

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was des ...

in Washington, DC, the

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

, Paris, and

Kolumba The Kolumba (previously Diözesanmuseum, "Diocesan Museum") is an art museum in Cologne, Germany. It is located on the site of the former St. Kolumba church, and run by the Archdiocese of Cologne. It is one of the oldest museums in the city, al ...

, the Art Museum of the Archdiocese of Cologne.

Life and career

Thek (born George Thek) was the second of four children born to parents of German and Irish ancestry in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. In 1950, Thek studied at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

as well as

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...

in Brooklyn, before entering Cooper Union School of the Arts in New York in 1951. Upon graduating in 1954, he moved to Miami, where he met and became involved with set designer Peter Harvey, who introduced Thek to a number of artists and writers such as

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thre ...

. During this time, Thek created some of his first known drawings, including studies in charcoal and graphite (now held in Kolumba's collections), later followed by abstract watercolors and oil paintings. Thek first referred to himself as Paul Thek starting in 1955; in a letter to Harvey, he writes: "Let me tell you who I am George Joseph Thek but Paul to you and Paul to me you would have to be me to know why I am Paul after all this erroneous George business." In 1957, he exhibited his works for the first time at Mirrell Gallery in Miami. It was in Florida that Thek first met photographer

Peter Hujar Peter Hujar (October 11, 1934 – November 26, 1987) was an American photographer best known for his black and white portraits. He has been recognized posthumously as a major American photographer of the late-twentieth century. Yet Hujar's work r ...

, who photographed Thek in Coral Gables. By the end of 1959, Thek and Hujar, now a couple, were living in New York. Thek traveled to Italy in 1962, and with Hujar visited the Catacombs of the Capuchins in Palermo, an experience which had a strong influence on his work. During the 1960s, Thek and Hujar associated with a number of artists and writers including

Joseph Raffaele Joseph Raffaele was the founder of the American Orthodox Catholic Church - Western Rite Mission, Diocese of New York. He was initially a laity, layman in the Roman Catholic Church. On August 28, 1973, he founded St. Gregory's Church in Sayville, Ne ...

Eva Hesse Eva Hesse (January 11, 1936 – May 29, 1970) was a German-born American sculptor known for her pioneering work in materials such as latex, fiberglass, and plastics. She is one of the artists who ushered in the postminimal art movement in the 196 ...

, Gene Swenson, and

Susan Sontag Susan Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, philosopher, and political activist. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay "Notes on 'Camp'", in 1964. Her ...

. Thek was particularly close to Sontag, who dedicated her 1966 collection of essays, ''

Against Interpretation ''Against Interpretation '' is a 1966 collection of essays by Susan Sontag. It includes some of Sontag's best-known works, including "On Style," and the eponymous essay "Against Interpretation." In the latter, Sontag argues that the new approach t ...

'', to him. According to Sontag's biographer, the title and inspiration for the eponymous essay came from Thek. One day when Sontag was "talking about art in a cerebral way that many complained was a bore," he interrupted: "Susan, stop, stop. I'm against interpretation. We don't look at art when we interpret it. That's not the way to look at art." In 1964, he participated in

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

Screen Tests The ''Screen Tests'' are a series of short, silent, black-and-white film portraits by Andy Warhol, made between 1964 and 1966, generally showing their subjects from the neck up against plain backdrops. The ''Screen Tests'', of which 472 survive ...

. It was during this time that he began to work in installation and sculpture, most notably creating wax sculptures made in the likeness of meat. Between 1964–67, Thek had three solo exhibitions of his famed ''Technological Reliquaries'' at Stable Gallery and Pace Gallery in New York. Thek was awarded a

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

fellowship in 1967 to Italy, leaving New York shortly after his exhibition for ''The Tomb'' opened. The figure in Thek's ''Tomb'' was popularly associated with the American

hippie movement The hippie subculture began its development as a youth movement in the United States during the early 1960s and then developed around the world. Its origins may be traced to European social movements in the 19th and early 20th century such as B ...

and has often been mistitled as ''Death of a Hippie''. He traveled and lived throughout Europe during the late 1960s and early 1970s and worked on large scale installations. After a peripatetic lifestyle, Thek took up permanent residence in New York in 1976 and began teaching at

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

. Amid increasing emotional stress, he struggled to make and sell work, but began to show nationally and internationally again during the 1980s. He died on August 10, 1988 after learning he had

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

the year prior. After his death, Sontag dedicated ''

AIDS and Its Metaphors ''AIDS and Its Metaphors'' is a 1989 work of critical theory by Susan Sontag. In this companion book to her ''Illness as Metaphor'' (1978), Sontag extends her arguments about the metaphors attributed to cancer to the AIDS crisis. Sontag explores ...

'' to his memory. In 2010, the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

exhibited the first American retrospective of Thek's work with ''Diver, a Retrospective''. Works of Paul Thek are on permanent display at

The Watermill Center The Watermill Center is a center for the arts and humanities in Water Mill, New York, founded in 1992 by artist and theater director Robert Wilson. Overview The Watermill Center is "a laboratory for performance" founded by Robert Wilson in 1992 ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, New York.

Notable works

''Technological Reliquaries'', or ''Meat Pieces'' (1964–67) is among Thek's most notable body of works, wax sculptures made in the likeness of raw meat and human limbs encased in Plexiglas vitrines. In a 1966 interview, he speaks of the work: “I hope the work has the innocence of those Baroque Crypts in Sicily; their initial effect is so stunning you fall back for a moment and then it's exhilarating…It delighted me that bodies could be used to decorate a room, like flowers. We accept our thing-ness intellectually but the emotional acceptance of it can be a joy.” ''The Tomb'' (1967), perhaps his most famous work, was a pink ziggurat which encased an effigy of Thek made from a mannequin with face, hands, and feet cast from his own body. Painted in a light pink, the effigy featured a protruding tongue and a hand bloodied from amputation, and was surrounded by other casts of Thek's body in cases roped off with red cords in reference to archeological digs. ''The Procession/The Artist's Co-op'' (1969,

Stedelijk Museum The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

, Amsterdam), ''Pyramid/A Work in Progress'' (1971–72,

Moderna Museet Moderna Museet ("the Museum of Modern Art"), Stockholm, Sweden, is a state museum for modern and contemporary art located on the island of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm, opened in 1958. In 2009, the museum opened a new branch in Malmö in t ...

, Stockholm), ''Ark, Pyramid'' (1972,

documenta 5 documenta 5 was the fifth edition of documenta, a quinquennial contemporary art exhibition. It was held between 30 June and 8 October 1972 in Kassel, West Germany. The artistic director was Harald Szeemann '' Harald Szeemann (11 June 1933 – 18 ...

, Kassel), and ''Ark, Pyramid, Easter'' (1973, Kunstmuseum Luzern) were a series of conceptually-related installations created with a number of collaborators during Thek's time in Europe. Each contained common elements which served to create an immersive environment, including: the “Hippie” (a cast of Thek's body), the Dwarf Parade Table (a table supported by a latex statue of a dwarf and chairs), and a chicken coop. With each installation came an increasing number of items compromising the pieces, to the point at which much of ''Ark, Pyramid, Easter'' had to be destroyed as Kunstmuseum Luzern could no longer store the components.

Selected exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions

* 2022: ''Paul Thek: Italian Hours'', Fondazione Nicola del Roscio, Rome, Italy * 2021: ''Paul Thek: Relativity Clock'', Alexander and Bonin, New York * 2021: ''Paul Thek: Interior/Landscape'',

, Water Mill, New York * 2015: ''Ponza and Roma'', Alexander and Bonin, New York; Mai 36 Galerie, Zürich * 2015: ''Please Write! Paul Thek and Franz Deckwitz: An Artists' Friendship'',

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Municipal Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen () is an art museum in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The name of the museum is derived from the two most important collectors of Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans and Daniël George van Beuningen. It is located at ...

, Rotterdam * 2013: ''Nothing But Time: Paul Thek Revisited 1964–1987'',

Pace Gallery The Pace Gallery is an American contemporary and modern art gallery with 9 locations worldwide. It was founded in Boston by Arne Glimcher in 1960. His son, Marc Glimcher, is now president and CEO. Pace Gallery operates in New York, London, Hong ...

, London * 2012–13: ''Paul Thek, in Process'',

, Stockholm;

Lehmbruck Museum The Stiftung Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum - Center for International Sculpture is a museum in Duisburg, Germany. Sculptures by Wilhelm Lehmbruck, after whom the museum is named, make up a large part of its collection. However, the museum has a sub ...

, Duisburg; Kunstmuseum Luzern * 2012–13: ''Art is Liturgy – Paul Thek and the Others'',

, Art Museum of The Archdiocese of Cologne * 2010–11: ''Paul Thek: Diver'', A Retrospective,

, New York;

Carnegie Museum of Art The Carnegie Museum of Art, is an art museum in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Originally known as the Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute and was at what is now the Main Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsbur ...

, Pittsburgh;

Hammer Museum The Hammer Museum, which is affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles, is an art museum and cultural center known for its artist-centric and progressive array of exhibitions and public programs. Founded in 1990 by the entrepreneur- ...

, Los Angeles * 2009: ''Paul Thek: Artist's Artist'',

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia Museo may refer to: * Museo, 2018 Mexican drama heist film *Museo (Naples Metro) Museo is a station on line 1 of the Naples Metro. It was opened on 5 April 2001 as the eastern terminus of the section of the line between Vanvitelli and Museo. ...

, Madrid * 2005: ''Paul Thek Luzern 1973/2005'', Kunstmuseum Luzern * 1995: ''Paul Thek: The wonderful world that almost was'', Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam;

Neue Nationalgalerie The Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery) at the Kulturforum is a museum for modern art in Berlin, with its main focus on the early 20th century. It is part of the National Gallery of the Berlin State Museums. The museum building and its ...

, Berlin; Fundacio Antoni Tapies, Barcelona;

Kunsthalle Zürich The Kunsthalle Zürich is a contemporary art exhibition centre in Zurich, Switzerland. It is located on Limmatstrasse, near the city centre. A number of temporary exhibitions are organized each year. In 2014 Daniel Baumann replaced Beatrix Ruf ...

/Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zürich; MAC, galeries contemporaines des musées de Marseille, Marseille * 1991: ''Paul Thek, Newspaper and Notebook Drawings'',

Brooke Alexander Gallery The Brooke Alexander Gallery is an art gallery in New York City founded in 1968 by Brooke and Carolyn Alexander in a storefront on East 68th Street. It is a member of The Art Dealers Association of America and the International Fine Print Dealers A ...

New York * 1977: ''Paul Thek/Processions'',

Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia The Institute of Contemporary Art or ICA is a contemporary art museum in Philadelphia. The museum is associated with the University of Pennsylvania, and is located on its campus. The Institute is one of the country's leading museums dedicated to e ...

* 1976: ''The Personal Effects of the Pied Piper'', Galerie Alexandre Iolas * 1973: ''Ark, Pyramid-Easter'', Kunstmuseum Luzern * 1972: ''A Station of the Cross'', Galerie M.E. Thelen, Essen * 1971: ''Pyramid/A Work in Progress'', Moderna Museet, Stockholm * 1969: ''The Procession/The Artist's Co-op'',

, Amsterdam * 1968: ''A Procession in Honor of Aesthetic Progress: Objects Theoretically to Wear, Carry, Pull or Wave'', Galerie M.E. Thelen, Essen * 1967: ''The Tomb'',

Stable Gallery The Stable Gallery, originally located on West 58th Street in New York City, was founded in 1953 by Eleanor Ward. The Stable Gallery hosted early solo New York exhibitions for artists including Marisol Escobar, Robert Indiana and Andy Warhol. His ...

, New York * 1966: ''Paul Thek: Recent Work'', Pace Gallery, New York

Selected group exhibitions

* 2018: ''Like Life: Sculpture, Color, and the Body'',

Met Breuer The Met Breuer ( ) was a museum of modern and contemporary art at Madison Avenue and East 75th Street in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. It served as a branch museum of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (known as the Met) from 20 ...

, New York * 2013: ''Paul Thek and his Circle in the 1950s,

Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art (LLM), formerly the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, is a visual art museum in SoHo, Lower Manhattan, New York City. It mainly collects, preserves and exhibits visual arts created by LGBTQ artists or ar ...

, New York * 2007–08: ''Paul Thek. Works in the Context of Contemporary Art'', ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe; Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg * 2003: ''Global Village: The 1960s'',

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA; french: Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, MBAM) is an art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest art museum in Canada by gallery space. The museum is located on the historic Golden Square ...

* 2001: ''Painting at the Edge of the World'',

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in the United States and, t ...

, Minneapolis * 1999: ''Circa 1968'', Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto * 1984: ''Content: A Contemporary Focus 1974–1984'',

, Washington, DC * 1981: ''Drawing Distinctions, American Drawings of the Seventies'',

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is an art museum located on the shore of the Øresund Sound in Humlebæk, north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the most visited art museum in Denmark, and has an extensive permanent collection of modern and cont ...

, Denmark;

Kunsthalle Basel Kunsthalle Basel is a contemporary art gallery in Basel, Switzerland. As Switzerland's oldest and still most active institution for contemporary art, Kunsthalle Basel forms a vital part of Basel's cultural centre and is located next to the city's ...

; Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus; Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen * 1976:

La Biennale di Venezia The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

* 1973:

, Kassel * 1971: ''Depth and Presence'', The Cocoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC * 1969: ''Human Concern/Personal Torment-The Grotesque in American Art'', Whitney Museum of American Art, New York * 1968: documenta 4, Kassel

Selected collections

* Kunstmuseum, Bern * Erzbischoefliches Diözesanmuseum, Cologne *

Ludwig Museum Museum Ludwig, located in Cologne, Germany, houses a collection of modern art. It includes works from Pop Art, Abstract and Surrealism, and has one of the largest Picasso collections in Europe. It holds many works by Andy Warhol and Roy ...

, Cologne *

Des Moines Art Center The Des Moines Art Center is an art museum with an extensive collection of paintings, sculpture, modern art and mixed media. It was established in 1948 in Des Moines, Iowa. History The Art Center traces its roots to 1916, when the Des Moines As ...

, IA * Johnssen Collection, Essen *

Museum Folkwang Museum Folkwang is a major collection of 19th- and 20th-century art in Essen, Germany. The museum was established in 1922 by merging the Essener Kunstmuseum, which was founded in 1906, and the private Folkwang Museum of the collector and patr ...

, Essen * Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, NC *

Greenville County Museum of Art The Greenville County Museum of Art (GCMA) is an art museum located in Greenville, South Carolina. Its collections focus mainly on American art, and its holdings include works by Andrew Wyeth, Josef Albers, Jasper Johns (raised in South Carolina), ...

, SC *

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...

Kunstmuseum, Luzern
*

, Minneapolis *

Newark Museum The Newark Museum of Art (formerly known as the Newark Museum), in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, United States, is the state's largest museum. It holds major collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia, Af ...

, NJ *

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, New York *

, Pittsburgh * Centre George Pompidou, Paris *

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

, Rotterdam * Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC * Federation of Migros, Zürich * Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto

Selected bibliography

* ''Paul Thek. From Cross to Crib.'' Cologne: Walther Koenig, 2014 * Neubauer, Susanne. ''Paul Thek in Process. Commentaries on/of an exhibition.'' Berlin: Revolver Publishing, 2014 * Schachter, Kenny. ''Nothing But Time: Paul Thek Revisited 1964 – 1987''. ex cat. London: Pace, 2013. * Sussman, Elisabeth and Lynn Zelevansky. ''Paul Thek: Diver''. ex cat, New York: Whitney Museum of American Art; Pittsburgh: Carnegie Museum of Art; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011 * Falckenberg, Harald and Peter Weibel, eds. ''Paul Thek: Artist's Artist''. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press; Karlsruhe: ZKM , Center for Art and Media Technology, 2008 * Brehm, Margrit, and Axel Heil, Roberto Ohrt, eds. ''Tales the Tortoise Taught Us.''. König, Cologne 2008, * Wittmann, Philipp. ''Paul Thek – Vom Frühwerk zu den "Technologischen Reliquiaren".'' Friedland: Klaus Bielefeld Verlag, 2004 * Cotter, Holland, Marietta Franke, Richard Flood, Herald Szeemann, and Ann Wilson. ''Paul Thek: The wonderful world that almost was''. ex. cat. Rotterdam: Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, 1995 * ''Paul Thek/Proccessions''. Text by Suzanne Delehanty. Philadelphia: Institute of Contemporary Art, 1977

References

External links

Paul Thek Project

Thek at Alexander and Bonin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thek, Paul 1933 births 1988 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters AIDS-related deaths in New York (state) American installation artists Art Students League of New York alumni Bisexual artists Bisexual men People from Brooklyn 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists American male sculptors American people of German descent American people of Irish descent LGBT artists from the United States LGBT people from New York (state) Sculptors from New York (state) Pratt Institute alumni American contemporary painters 20th-century LGBT people