Gerhard Steidl was born and grew up in Göttingen, Germany.[1] His father was a cleaner in the presses of the local newspaper where Steidl developed an interest in the technical aspects of printing from an early age.[2] His impetus for a career in printing came when, as a teenager, one of his photographs was used in a poster advertising a production of Brecht's Mann ist Mann. The printing company did what the boy thought was a poor job; he suggested printing the sheet twice, the company agreed to do so in order to get rid of him, and his idea worked fairly well.[3]
In the late 1960s, Steidl established the Steidl printing company in Göttingen, which, following the bankruptcy of the publisher Scalo, came to publish photobooks. He also owns a guest house called the Halftone Hotel where each room is named for an artist printed by his company.[2]
In 2020, Gerhard Steidl received the Gutenberg Prize of the International Gutenberg Society and the City of Mainz.[4]
