Hello again, my friends out there in bloggie land. Yes, it has been over a week since I wrote. I had decided not to write until after I attended the event of which I am about to write. However, my new iPod Touch arrived this weekend, and since then I’ve been taking the time to copy music for it and, of course, try to figure out just how it works. (I’m copying CDs as this write this, too.)
So, let’s get down to business.
The annual New York show of the Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD) is something that I have come to look forward to each year. I attended my first AIPAD show quite a few years ago when it was held on two floors of the New York Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan. I didn’t go to buy, but rather just to look at the many fine examples of original photographic prints, dating from the 19th century to more recent years. I can remember how my head was spinning when I left, having seen so many prints.
In subsequent years, I bought some inexpensive prints for my collection, but then, for some reason, I stopped attending. The event eventually moved to a new location – the Park Avenue Armory on Manhattan’s east side – and last year I finally went back to attending the show.
I have begun to take my collecting of photography more seriously over the past few years, but at a show like AIPAD, I must say, the vast majority of prints are beyond my affordability. Still, I have managed to find some things now and then that fall within my budgetary limits, with an occasional splurge.
I do have to say that there is definitely a difference in attending an event like this when you are a potential buyer rather than just a looker. As a looker – well, price really doesn’t matter much because you’re not planning to take anything home. On the other hand, when you are on the lookout for something, it stings a bit more when you see something you really love but you see that it’s out of reach.
This year things stung a bit more. Having seen my television set, computer and MP3 player break down in short succession, with my digital camera also on the blink and all of them needing to be replaced – well,I’m afraid there really wasn’t much left in the till for buying art.
Perhaps that’s one reason why I only attended this past Thursday and Friday after work. I usually go on Saturday for a full day to see as much as I can – and last year I went Thursday through Sunday – but this time it was just two days, though those two weeknights were not as crowded as it usually gets on a weekend. (I also needed to take my car for a good ride, as the battery had become depleted through lack of use and needed to be recharged., which I did on Saturday.)
In the end, I did take home a couple of inexpensive prints from the Czech Center of Photography, and I saw a lower priced print from an American dealer that I may be able to get later in the year if I can actually save some money. All that aside, I spent some time looking at beautiful photography and talking with people from the fine art photography world. There are worse ways to pass the hours.
Here are some photos I made at the show of some photos I admired and dealers I spoke with. My comments are below them.
Dealer Alex Novak of Vintage Works from Pennsylvania, standing in front of a print by Arthur Tress, an artist he represents.
Some classic prints at Alex's booth, including the iconic "Satyric Dancer" by Andre Kertesz on the left.
One of my favorite prints in Alex's inventory, a photo taken on the Paris metro, I believe, by Brassai.
Alex mentioned my blog coverage of last year's event in his newsletter, and he also sent me a free pass for this year's event (as I had purchased a print from him in the past), so I told him that I'd feature him on the blog. Here he's holding a 19th century print of the Step Pyramid of King Djoser at Sakkara in Egypt. This was the first pyramid built by the ancient Egyptians, around the 27th century BCE.
The lovely and charming Mel Etherton of the Etherton Gallery in Tucson, Arizona. I happened to mention that I missed the chance to hear Robert Frank speaking a few months ago at the Metropolitan Museum of Art because I had a ticket to see Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro" at the opera (the "other" Met) that night. It turns out that she's an opera lover, too, so we had a lot to talk about other than photography. She was impressed by my tales of being on stage with Pavarotti at the Met.
That's a Joel-Peter Witkin print on the left at Etherton - proof that he can make a photo that doesn't turn one's stomach. This one, as you can see, is quite lovely, actually.
Some more prints at Etherton, by Flor Garduno (left) and Helmut Newton (right).
I usually prefer black & white fine art photography over that in color, but this fashion photo by Norman Parkinson certainly caught my attention.
The men from Prague: Jiri (right) and his assistant of the Czech Center of Photography.
A beautiful nude by Irving Penn.
Burt Finger from the Photographs Do Not Bend (PDNB) Gallery in Dallas, Texas.
A Gallery for Fine Photography, from New Orleans, had this very large print by Helmut Newton on display. It certainly looked impressive. Even a small Newton print is beyond my budget, but I can always dream about winning the lottery and getting something like this. (It would look great above my sofa.)
A couple of large prints of some New York landmarks. So, that's it for this year's AIPAD show. This is by no means an exhaustive review of the event, but rather the show as seen from my point of view. If you're interested and want to find out more, view the blog of DLK Collection - a serious collector - by clicking here.
