Steven Kasher reflects on a life in art

For more than three decades, New York gallerist Steven Kasher has championed artists and photographic archives and reshaped how we understand visual culture—from Civil Rights-era photography to overlooked masters. In his new book, Memoir of a Collection: Finding Meaning through Art, to be published by Abbeville Press on April 7, 2026, Kasher turns his attention inward, reflecting on the artworks that shaped his life and career. Part memoir, part art criticism, and part philosophical inquiry, the illustrated volume brings together a series of linked essays in which Kasher examines the images, many from his own collection, that left a lasting mark on him—works that illuminate not only the artists who created them but also the personal and historical experiences through which we encounter art. “Every collector has a story about how an artwork entered their life,” Kasher writes. “The deeper story is how the art enters your consciousness and stays