Paul Thek: Notebook #41, 1977

American artist Paul Thek, an influential figure in the post-1960s generation, left behind more than 100 notebooks containing drawings, diary entries, poetry, correspondences, ideas for artworks, and elaborate transcriptions of texts by philosophers or theologians. Considered by Thek to be artworks unto themselves, his notebooks provide unparalleled insight into his imagination, which he translated into sculpture, painting, and installation. This facsimile edition of one of Thek’s composition notebooks from 1977 provides an up-close experience of this intimate facet of his practice, with vivid watercolors, lists, scribbles, notes, and sketches revealing glimmers of the inner life of a legendary artist.