photo: © Carlos Saura. Vanished Spain, 2016. Outstanding Contribution to Photography, Sony World Photography Awards 2020
The World Photography Organisation (WPO) named publisher and printer Gerhard Steidl the recipient of the Outstanding Contribution to Photography 2020 award. It was the first time in the Awards’ history that the recognition had gone to someone other than a photographer. Steidl was honored at the awards ceremony in London on April 16 for his work with photographers and the considerable impact of his photo books.
To celebrate his achievement, a presentation of Steidl’s bookmaking process and approximately eighty of his most acclaimed publications was shown as part of the Sony World Photography Awards 2020 exhibition at London’s iconic Somerset House under the title One Love, One Book: Steidl Book Culture.
The exhibition space was designed as a visual workshop divided into four sections: Artist, Concept, Design, and Print. Each object on display was accompanied by detailed commentary, offering visitors insight into Steidl’s book culture and the step-by-step process behind his handcrafted books—from the initial correspondence with the artist and editorial considerations to examples of technical elements such as typefaces, paper, and binding materials.
Highlights included The Japanese Box (2001), published by the Steidl imprint Edition 7L, a collaboration between Karl Lagerfeld and Gerhard Steidl. Another Edition 7L publication on display was the Andy Warhol interview The Crystal Ball of Pop Culture (2004).
Alongside well-known publications, Steidl showed photographs by a selection of artists with whom he had cultivated long-term relationships.
These included brand-new images from Nobel Prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk’s then-forthcoming photography title Orange (2020), artist Dayanita Singh’s Museum Bhavan (2017), photographs from the book Vanished Spain (2016) by Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura, and original gelatin silver prints from Ed Ruscha’s On the Road (2009).
Previous recipients of the Outstanding Contribution to Photography award included Mary Ellen Mark, William Klein, Eve Arnold, Bruce Davidson, Elliott Erwitt and, most recently, Martin Parr, Candida Höfer and Nadav Kander.
More information: www.worldphoto.org.
