Steven Leiber (1957–2012) was a pioneering art dealer, collector, and gallerist, focused on the dematerialized art practices of the 1960s and 1970s. As an expert in the then-nascent field of artist archives and ephemera, in 1987 he opened Steven Leiber Basement. He was an important resource for numerous scholars, curators, and other enthusiasts, with a focus on the integral role of ephemera and documentation within conceptual art and other avant-garde movements.
Across 252 pages, this book documents the full set of 52 dealer catalogs produced by Steven Leiber between 1992–2010. His reputation spread via these unique volumes that paid homage to historic publications and multiples, including Wallace Berman’s Semina journal and the exhibition catalog Documenta V (1972), and included works by John Baldessari, Lynda Benglis, Ray Johnson, Lucy Lippard, Allan Kaprow, Yayoi Kusama, Claes Oldenburg, Lawrence Weiner, and many more.
Inspired by Leiber’s often humorous borrowing for his catalog designs, the book’s format references Sol Lewitt’s Autobiography and includes an essay and contextual notes by David Senior.
Additional contributors include Ann Butler, Christophe Cherix, Marc Fischer, Adam Michaels, Tom Patchett, David Platzker, Marcia Reed, Lawrence Rinder, and Robin Wright.