Gerhard Steidl

Gerhard Steidl (born November 22, 1950 in Göttingen ) is a German publisher, owner and manager of Steidl Verlag .

Gerhard Steidl (Photo: Robbie Lawrence, 2017)

Life

Steidl, who grew up in Göttingen, graduated from high school at the age of 17. He founded his own publishing house in 1968. He set up a screen printing workshop for prints and posters in his hometown . Since 1970 he has been cooperating with Klaus Staeck, who was then a poster artist . From 1972 until his death in 1986 he produced a large part of the serial works (prints, multiples) by Joseph Beuys . The appeal of working with unconventional materials and techniques in order to create books and graphics beyond mass consumption characterizes his publishing practice to this day.

In 1974 Steidl was registered as a master screen printer in the trade register. To this day, all Steidl Verlag books are printed in the in-house print shop. Steidl is an advocate of the highest quality standards, both in terms of the materials used and in terms of print quality. The books of Günter Grass , who are friends of him, have been published by Steidl Verlag since the mid-1980s . Steidl has held the worldwide rights to the Nobel Prize winner's work since 1993. In 1993 a close cooperation with Karl Lagerfeld began . In 2000, this led to the establishment of the joint imprint publishing house "Edition 7L". Around 40 book publications were published there up to and including 2005. In 2010, Gerhard Steidl and Karl Lagerfeld founded Imprint-Verlag LSD (Lagerfeld.Steidl.Druckerei.Verlag) with Karl Lagerfeld as program director. In 2006, Lagerfeld called Steidl the “best printer in the world.” In addition, the duo, in collaboration with the perfumer Geza Schön, brought a book-scented perfume called Paper Passion onto the market. Steidl prints the advertising materials, catalogs, flyers and invitations to haute couture shows for CHANEL .

In 1996 Steidl decided to implement his passion for the art of photography in his own photo book program with an international focus right from the start. Under Steidl's leadership, the claim of a manufactory is used. Every single book should be “ book art ”. This attitude, with its unconditional insistence on high quality craftsmanship, has earned him international customers from artistic circles. “The world's most distinguished printing and publishing company” - this is how the art magazine Art Review described Steidl's life's work.

Publisher Gerhard Steidl during a lecture in Mannheim (2019)

The Leipzig Film Festival opened on October 20, 2010 with a portrait of the obsessive bookmaker Gerhard Steidl. With the world premiere of How to Make a Book With Steidl, the two Munich documentarists Gereon Wetzel and Jörg Adolph presented a 90-minute study of the everyday life of this German publisher, who is not part of the group. For over a year, the documentary filmmakers had filmed Steidl's decision-making process and communicating in Göttingen, as well as visiting exhibitions and studios with photo artists from all over the western world. On November 4, 2010, the documentary co-produced by 3sat was shown in the late evening program.

In the spring of 2015, the Günter Grass archive in Göttingen opened in a half-timbered house from the 15th century. The Steidl-Verlag has good contacts to museums, galleries and artists, said the publisher's press spokeswoman. That is why there are good chances of presenting first-class international art in Göttingen. Gerhard Steidl himself owns a comprehensive collection of works by Joseph Beuys, Klaus Staeck and Marcel Broodthaers , which are also to be shown there.

In October 2015, Steidl, as guest editor-in-chief - in collaboration with Nan Goldin , Robert Polidori and Juergen Teller  - designed a 76-page literary special edition of ZEITmagazin for the Frankfurt Book Fair .

In 2020 Steidl will receive the Gutenberg Prize from the International Gutenberg Society and the City of Mainz.

Publications

• Steidl, Gerhard and Günter Grass: Stockholm. The Nobel Prize for Literature for Günter Grass. Göttingen: Steidl, 2000. ISBN 978-3-88243-741-6
• Steidl, Gerhard and Klaus Staeck: Beuys Book. Göttingen: Steidl, 2007. ISBN 978-3-86521-914-5

Web links

• Literature by and about Gerhard Steidl in the catalog of the German National Library
• Website of the Steidl Verlag
• Alex Rühle : Hip, Hop, You Dont Stop ( Memento from October 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) in: 032c No. 17, 2009 (English)
• Joachim Scholl: The world of a "brilliant artist". Deutschlandradio Kultur on February 14, 2014
• Johann Kneihs: Gerhard Steidl, printer and publisher of world recognition , Ö1 Menschenbilder , July 2, 2017
• Gerhard Steidl at filmportal.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Federal State of Lower Saxony : Gerhard Steidl, publisher
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Der Spiegel from October 4, 2005: Book art as a craft
3. ↑ https://steidl.de/Verlag-0508192541.html
4. ↑ https://charlierose.com/videos/18250
5. ↑ ^{a b} 3sat of October 6, 2010: How To Make A Book With Steidl A film by Jörg Adolph and Gereon Wetzel
6. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung of October 21, 2010: Self-confident serving people
7. ↑ FAZ of November 4, 2010, page 37: A hermit travels around the world
8. ↑ dpa of April 8, 2008: A "Günter Grass House" is to be built in Göttingen as part of a future art quarter ( Memento of November 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
9. ↑ ZEITmagazin of October 13, 2015: How to make a ZEITmagazin with Steidl
10. ↑ Zeitverlag's press release from October 14, 2015: A declaration of love for paper: Gerhard Steidl designs ZEITmagazin
11. ↑ Press release: Gutenberg Prize 2020 from the International Gutenberg Society and the City of Mainz goes to Gerhard Steidl. City of Mainz, May 4, 2020, accessed on May 4, 2020 .