Steidl Verlag, one of the most beloved publishers of photobooks, is facing preliminary insolvency proceedings in Germany, according to reports in the German media.
NDR reports that insolvency proceedings were opened on Friday in a court in Göttingen at the request of a creditor. A court is also reviewing claims that the publishing house did not pay salaries to employees or delayed “a considerable amount” of payment—as much as five or six months’ worth in some cases, according to a lawyer who spoke to Die Welt.
Per the NDR report, there are several lawsuits pending in a labor court, though the publication did not specify the nature of those filings.
“Times are very bad for the book industry,” Gerhard Steidl, who founded his eponymous publishing house in 1968, told NDR on Thursday.
A spokesperson for Steidl did not immediately respond to ARTnews’s request for comment.
Numerous photographers have published books with Steidl, which is known for the meticulousness of its printing process and the close relations that Gerhard Steidl established with artists. A lengthy New Yorker profile of Steidl from 2017 noted that he had turned book publishing into an art form and stated that he is “known for fanatical attention to detail, for superlative craftsmanship, and for embracing the best that technology has to offer.” Steidl was the subject of a documentary in 2010.
Among the photographers to have published books with Steidl are Robert Frank, Nan Goldin, Joseph Beuys, William Eggleston, Joel Sternfeld, Martin Parr, and Edward Burtynsky.
For many photographers, there is no higher honor than receiving the invitation to Steidl’s headquarters. “He is so much better than anyone,” Eggleston told the New Yorker for its Steidl profile.
