With two sessions at this year’s AIPAD under my belt (the opening night event and a solid bunch of hours yesterday afternoon), I can say with confidence that the overall sophistication of this anchor event in the NY photo year continues to increase. There are less overcrowded, bin stuffed booths, more well edited and thoughtful displays, and slowly but surely, a little more contemporary work is creeping into this traditionally vintage affair. The gala Wednesday evening was polished and well attended, and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing countless old friends, and meeting some of the many collectors, curators, critics, artists and gallery owners that I had previously known only by email or reputation. Year after year, there is an evolution away from casual, table based selling and a movement toward more refined service.
While I left my notebook at home on opening night, I was more systematic yesterday, covering the fair aisle by aisle, booth by booth. My notes cover approximately 40+ booths in some level of detail, generally listing the photographers with works on view, the number of prints on display, and in some cases, specific works that I thought merited attention or were new. Of course, my coverage of this show is perhaps more personally biased towards our own collecting interests than normal, and there is a significant amount of vintage work on display, so my apologies in advance if my selections are overly dominated by black and white. Also, I have generally refrained from talking about work which I have recently covered in review form; this provides some limits for my discussion, especially for those galleries that have opted for a sampler from the current stable.
My review is divided into two parts. This first part covers a selection of the out of town galleries, in alphabetical order. The second part will cover some of the New York galleries, as well as a few close by Northeastern neighbors. Covering this entire sprawling show in exhaustive detail is beyond the scope of what I can realistically deliver, so please don’t take it personally if I have omitted your gallery or your work. My goal is to give readers a flavor of what I thought was intriguing and thought provoking, not to provide an analysis of every image on view, in the bins/flat files, and under the tables.
Stephen Bulger Gallery (here): Robert Bourdeau (4), Andre Kertesz (2, 1 diptych, 1 set of 5), Gilbert Garcin (6), Fausta Faccipone (1), Allison Rossiter (11), Clive Holden (1 set of 4), Scott Conarroe (1), Dave Heath (1 set of 6), Jospeh Hartman (1), Benoit Aquin (1). Lots of new abstract poured/dipped chemical Rossiters here, a few almost like landscapes or starry skies.
John Cleary Gallery (here): Susan Burnstine (3), Maggie Taylor (3), Ansel Adams (1), Henri Cartier-Bresson (2), Robert Mapplethorpe (1), Robert Doisneau (1), Gordon Parks (1), Willy Ronis (1), Sanko Abadric (1), Renate Aller (2), David Fukos (2), John Chakeres (2), Brett Weston (2). Had a thoughtful discussion about pricing in the market for Mapplethorpe flowers in this booth, triggered by the Tiger Lily on display priced at $40000.
Eric Franck Fine Art (here): Karen Knorr (3), Josef Koudelka (3), Graham Smith (6), Chris Killip (4), Martine Franck (4), Andy Warhol (3), Ogawa Gesshu (3), Heinz Hajek-Halke (4), Gaspar Gasparin (6), Henri Cartier-Bresson (5), Norman Parkinson (5). I continue to be impressed by Killip and Smith and wish their work was more consistently on view here in New York. There was also a terrific Warhol of stratified neckties on a side wall.
Michael Hoppen Gallery (here): Shomei Tomatsu (3), Miyako Ishiuchi (1), Issei Suda (1), Kishin Shinoyama (1), Hiroshi Hamaya (2), Daido Moriyama (2), Valerie Belin (2), Noe Sendas (3), Bruce Bernard (3), Sigmar Polke (1), Guy Bourdin (4), Boris Savalev (1). I liked the bold patterns of the Moriyama fishnet stocking variants here. Two new muted black and white Belins dominate the main wall.
James Hyman Photography (here): Pierre Manguin (3), Henri Le Secq (2), Bisson Freres (2), Charles Negre (4), Edmund Bacot (2), Louis Alphonse de Brebisson (1), Edmund Nicolas (1), Pierre-Emile-Joseph Pecarrere (1), Amedee Varin (1), Edouard-Denis Baldus (2), Vallou de Villeneuve (1), Henri Ange Eugene Mailand (1), Gustave Le Gray and Auguste Mestral (1), Anonymous (3), Neurdein School (1), Paul Strand (1), Edward Weston (1), Francesca Woodman (1), Lucien Clergue (2), Arthur Siegel (1), Harry Callahan (2), Eugene Atget (4), Tony Ray-Jones (4). The inside of the Hyman booth has been transformed by a well-edited selection of 19th century French church/monastery images, complete with muted light, a sculptural fragment in the center, and images of gargoyles high on the walls.
Jackson Fine Art (here): George Georgiou (2), Chip Simone (4), Frank Horvat (2), Todd Selby (1), Greg Lons (4), Todd Murphy (3), Mona Kuhn (4), Vivian Maier (3), Ruud Van Empel (3).
Kopeikin Gallery (here): Irving Penn (1), Jeffrey Milstein (2), Lee Friedlander (2), David Schoerner (1), Harry Callahan (3), Katy Grannan (2), Sally Mann (1), Peter Beard (1), Robert Frank (1), Andy Freeberg (1), Garry Winogrand (3), Chris Jordan (1), Marta Soul (1), Moby (1), Kevin Cooley (1). I liked the smaller black and white Grannan portraits in this booth best. Jordan has reworked Van Gogh’s Starry Night in thousands of colored plastic lighters, a bit more painterly and Vik Muniz-like than previous images of his I’ve seen.
M+B (here): Matthew Brandt (7), Matthew Porter (3), LeRoy Grannis (4), Lisa Jack (4). Brandt was the big story in this booth, with 3 images on a nearby outside wall made by submerging the large prints in the bodies of water they depict (leading to abstract, acidic swirls) and 4 works made out of different flavors of brightly colored chewing gum hung across the back wall.
Monroe Gallery (here): Nina Berman (4), Eric Smith (2), Rikki Reich (2), Steve Schapiro (6), Carl Mydans (1), Grey Villet (4), Bill Eppridge (7), Paul Schutzer (1), Carl Iwasaki (1), Bob Gomel (1), Martha Holmes (2), John Dominis (1), Stephen Wilkes (2). A startling Berman of a veiled woman with her diploma is on the outside wall.
Richard Moore Photographs (here): Peter Sekaer (2), Dorothea Lange (3), Marion Post Wolcott (1), Walker Evans (1), Ben Shahn (1), Ansel Adams (4), Sonya Noskowiak (1), Imogen Cunningham (1), William Post (1), Helen Levitt (1), Weegee (2), Percy Loomis Sperr (4), Eadward Mybrudge (1), plus 3 bins. The eye catching Cunningham Magnolia Blossom had a major tear, which had been repaired quite well but clearly changed its value by an order of magnitude.
Scheinbaum & Russek Ltd. (here): Aaron Siskind (3), Arnold Newman (1), Brassai (1), Jerry Uelsmann (2), Lee Friedlander (1), Paul Strand (1), John Szarkowski (1), Paul Caponigro (1), Minor White (3), Edward Weston (1), Ansel Adams (1), Brett Weston (1), Berencie Abbott (1), Harry Callahan (2), Andre Kertesz (2), Todd Webb (4), Laura Gilpin (2), Eliot Porter (6), Diane Arbus (1), Henri Cartier-Bresson (2), Manuel Alvarez Bravo (2), Van Deren Coke (2), Roy DeCarava (1), W. Eugene Smith (1).
Barry Singer Gallery (here): Elyn Zimmerman (2), Lewis Hine (1), Edmund Teske (1), Arnold Newman (2), W. Eugene Smith (1), August Sander (2), Joel-Peter Witkin (1), Garry Winogrand (1), Robert Doisneau (1), John Albok (1), Marcia Resnick (1), Lou Stoumen (3), Ansel Adams (2), William Dassonville (1), Bill Brandt (1), Brett Weston (1), Wilson Bentley (1), Charles Jones (1), Edward Weston (1), Robert Graham (7), Herb Ritts (1), Jack Welpott (1), plus 4 bins.
Weinstein Gallery (here): Alec Soth (5), Helmut Newton (1), Robert Mapplethorpe (5), Robert Polidori (3), Vera Lutter (4), Nancy Rexroth (18). Three huge Polidoris of India cover the entire back wall of the booth; one is a dense warren of overlapping slum geometries. The Soths are from Bogota, the Lutters from Venice.
Weston Gallery (here): Oliver Gagliani (2), Harry Callahan (2), Marion Post Wolcott (2), George Tice (1), Sonya Nostowiak (1), Henri Cartier-Bresson (1), Danielle Nelson-Mourning (2), Hill & Adamson (2), Linnaeus Tripe (1), Charles Aubry (1), Andre Kertesz (1), Robert Frank (1), Johan Hagemeyer (1), Edward Weston (4), Paul Strand (2), Wynn Bullock (1), Ansel Adams (8), Imogen Cunningham (2).
Part 2 of the review can be found here.
