I went on Saturday to the annual Print Fair of the International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA), here in New York City at the Park Avenue Armory. I guess that the Armory has become the place in New York to hold art shows. This is also where AIPAD, the photography dealers group, has its big annual show.

This year was the first year that I attended the AIPAD photo show at the Armory (it having previously been held at the New York Hilton), and this weekend’s IFPDA show was very similar to the AIPAD show. The difference, of course, is that this time, the dealers had with them etchings, engravings, lithographs and the like (plus some drawings) rather than photographs.

As someone who is interested in different types of art, rather than just photographs, I thought I’d go to this show to learn more about the world of art prints and get familiar with the artists who created them. I’d done a little research on the web, looking up some dealers’ websites to look at what they had, but of course seeing an artwork for real is much better than seeing a reproduction on a computer screen.

The work presented in the show ranged from engravings by the likes of Rembrandt and Albrecht Durer right up to colorful contemporary pieces. Some of the small Rembrandt prints on display were absolute gems, with very fine details discernable despite their very small size.

Of course, there were plenty of works to be seen by such well known artists as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, but what interested me most were wonderful works by some artists who I had never heard of before or who aren’t household names – people like Martin Lewis, Emil Ganso, Betty Waldo Parish, Benton Spruance, John Sloan, Wanda Gag, Ernest Fiene, Agnes Tait, Adolf Dehn, Marie Laurencin, Raphael Soyer, Albert Sterner and Eileen Soper.

Then there were the Japanese prints, which seem to be a whole world unto themselves.

Probably the one print that I had seen online and most wanted to see in person is the one at the top of this posting: “Shadow Dance,” a 1930 drypoint engraving by Martin Lewis. It’s a stunner – and I love the group of three women in sihouette on the right, each wearing their flapper hats and each caught in stride with a foot off the ground.

I also coined a new term: “print fair shoulder,” which I came up with following my original “art show shoulder.” Photo dealers keep their inventory of matted photos in transparent sleeves, with an identifying label either on the front or the back of the sleeve. Not so with print dealers, who don’t put the mattes in sleeves, but rather put a transparent sheet to cover the print beneath the window matte. (The identifying information is generally either on the back of the back matte or on the lower front of the back matte.) Therefore, as most of the mattes were taped on the left side, I would use my left hand to flip through the matted images – as my right hand would often grab only the front matte. So, after spending several hours using my left hand and arm to do this, my left shoulder eventually began to hurt from it all. Hence, the phrase.

Here, below, you can see some of my favorite images from the show, with the names of the artists beneath them. (Sadly, I was not able to find some others online, but at least I wasa able to find these.) Unfortunately, I had hoped that you'd be able to click on them to see them larger, but that function does not seem to be working for some reason.

and, my favorite of this group,

Well, my family visitors all went back home this past weekend, so I’m trying to get back to normal here, including a return to making postings here on the blog.

The first of my visitors, before the family got here, was the model Nettie R. Harris. Nettie lives down in Louisiana and she stayed here for a few nights during her visit to New York.

Fortunately, we had the time to do a photo session here in my studio set-up. Nettie is a delightful young woman with a waif-like figure and I think we made some good images. I had planned to develop some of the film afterwards to show her the process and so she could see some of the results of our collaboration, but we got off to a late start and didn’t have time to take care of any film. (Well, we might have had some time, but I really did want to eat dinner.)

So, for now, I can just show a couple of quick snaps I made with my little digital camera. I’m also posting a photo of Nettie during a break in our session, holding up an appropriately named drink she had brought.
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Today is Election Day in the United States. Here in New York, we are voting for mayor. It’s been hard to forget, as for the past half year or so it seems that hardly a day has gone by when I have not gotten something in my mailbox telling me how wonderful our incumbent mayor Michael Bloomberg is. An hour has hardly seemed to pass when I have not seen a television commercial (when I’ve been watching the tube) telling me how wonderful a mayor Michael Bloomberg has been.

Why not? Bloomberg is a multi-millionaire running for his third term, so why shouldn’t he toot his own horn so loudly? Of course, what he fails to tell us is that he has zero respect for the voters of this city. Zilch. Absolutely none. Why? The people of New York City voted not once but twice to enact term limits – in the case of the mayor, a maximum of two terms – but Bloomberg and his self-serving cohorts in the City Council voted to override the will of the people and voided the term limits legislation.

So, isn’t that nice? The people of this city enacted term limits, in part, to prevent somebody with a gazillion dollars from buying an election term after term, but that is exactly what Bloomberg is doing. I have no doubt that he will succeed – big money usually gets its way – but as far as I’m concerned, Bloomberg and every member of the City Council who voted with him on this (including my own bum of a councilman) should have their asses kicked out onto the street where they belong. Some of them have lost their council seats in the primaries, but it’s a shame that they all haven’t. Perhaps some will today.

The ironic thing is that the only reason Bloomberg got elected in the first place was because of term limits! Had it not been for term limits, Rudolph Giuliani would have definitely gotten re-elected mayor following the events of 9/11. Now that’s all been forgotten and Bloomberg's acting in a self-serving manner. The fact is that I agree with his anti-smoking and anti-gun policies and his putting an end to social promotion in schools. Still, I cannot support someone who shows nothing but contempt for the people he hopes to lead. Enough is enough!
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Speaking of big money, the World Series continues. When I was a kid, the World Series was played in the daytime. It’s warmer in the daytime – and baseball is supposed to be a summer game – but now that the big event continues on into November, the games are played in the cold hours of the night. Why? Money, of course. Money in the form of television ratings. The players and the fans – and yes, the game itself – have to take a backseat to the needs of the TV networks. I guess that America’s real pastime is making money and disregarding everything else.

The Phillies won yesterday, so the action will return to the new Yankee Stadium in Da Bronx tomorrow for game 6. The Yankees hold a three game to two lead over the Phils, but I’m hoping Philadelphia will win.

I’m a Mets fan, and the Phillies are the Mets’ rivals, but I’m rooting for the Phillies anyway. For one, I am a fan of National League baseball, and I don’t believer in that Designated Hitter bullshit that the American League uses. Philadelphia is the National League champ (like it or not), so I’m behind them.

Second, I hate the Yankees more than any other sports franchise. Perhaps I was just born that way. Yankee fans seem to think that their team has some kind of god-given right to be the champion. They seem to think that the sun shines out of their asses. (Well, some of them, anyway.) Of course, most of the people seen wearing Yankees hats aren’t even true fans and have probably never even set foot in the Bronx! They're just a bunch of frontrunners.

Still, another reason to hate the Yankees is that they are the Michael Bloomberg of the baseball world. Their mode of operation is to spend millions and millions and millions of dollars to bludgeon the competition into defeat. Their highest paid player – and the highest paid in baseball, I believe – is Alex Rodriguez. A friend of mine who’s a Yankee fan keeps telling me how happy he is that A-Rod is finally delivering in the post-season (something he has not done in the past), but I just respond that Rodriguez is doing what he’s getting paid to do!

So, let’s see what happens.
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Finally, now that my visitors have all left, why does my apartment seem so much more spacious???