21st Editions
Steven Albahari is the founder and publisher of 21st Editions. The publishing house celebrates its 25th anniversary this year with concurrent exhibitions, Photography and the Book Arts from the 21st Editions Collection, at the National Gallery of Art and the University of Minnesota Libraries.
Publishing the work of photographers who represent a range of disciplines, 21st Editions brings together a team of book and print artists to create handcrafted book objects that combine real photographic prints with finely printed texts and artisan bindings that highlight trends in contemporary photography. The National Gallery of Art Library’s installation highlights twelve examples from the diverse range of more than sixty handmade artists’ books published over the past twenty-five years under the direction of Steven Albahari, and since 2005, production manager Pam Clark.
ADGER , with photographs and text by Adger Cowans, an introduction by Steven Albahari and erasure poetry by Collier Brown, is among the masterpiece creations of 21st Editions.
Steven Albahari on
Adger Cowans
Director of the Adger Cowans Archive and Collections and
Publisher and founder of 21st Editions, The Art of the Book®
Most of the paintings by Adger Cowans have never seen the light of day, except for the light of his studios and those fortunate enough to have seen them there.
Finished works from canvases to works-on-paper sat stored for decades in flat drawers and rolled up, patiently waiting for the eventuality of someone to uncover them and bring them to light. Rarely, if ever, has the public had an opportunity to have access to an artist’s complete life’s work by one of the great abstract expressionists of our time.
When I began working with Adger in 2020 on one of the most significant of the 65 books I have published over my career, I quietly observed how much more a painter Adger was than history told. That was, however, primarily because of Adger’s choice. Fortunately, after much coaxing, Adger allowed me to take this initiative with Thom Pegg and Black Art Auction to offer 80 paintings to institutions and individuals.
To Adger, who works and paints with vigor daily, I am grateful for his trust and willingness for the world to become more fully aware of his pivotal role and importance to abstract expressionism from the 1960’s until today and for the opportunity for us to own a piece of this important history.