Feature Image: The Etherton Gallery booth with Terry Etherton and Daphne Srinivasan at AIPAD 2024. © Jeremy Rowe
April in New York City is “The Photography Show,“ the annual international gathering of photographers, collectors, curators, and dealers presented by the Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD). Held in its traditional home at the Park Avenue Armory, the events began with a VIP preview opening on Thursday, April 25. Events continued through Sunday, April 28.
2024 AIPAD Program Cover © Jeremy Rowe
AIPAD exhibitors included 76 dealer booths, guest exhibitions, such as Magnum Photos, and a section with 24 publishers and organizations. In addition to the photographic show, the program included a series of lectures and panel discussions by photographers, curators, consultants, and collectors.
VIP attendees waiting for the AIPAD 2024 special opening at noon on Thursday. April 25. © Jeremy Rowe
Collateral events hosted in Manhattan during AIPAD included museum exhibitions like The Real Thing: Unpackaging Product Photography at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and gallery exhibitions timed to coordinate with AIPAD such as Le Baiser de Man Ray at the Bruce Silverstein Gallery, Mona Kuhn: Between Modernism and Surrealism at the Edwynn Houk Gallery, and Jackie Robinson and the Color Line at the Gitterman Gallery. Private viewings and events filled the AIPAD calendar as collectors and curators gathered to share and celebrate photography.
The 2024 Eclipse © Jerry Spagnoli on display at AIPAD 2024.
Sadly, this year there were no “Shadow“ tabletop shows in Manhattan during AIPAD weekend. Many of the collectors and curators interested in vernacular and historic images that usually attend this event while attending AIPAD (including this author) traveled a couple of hours west to the Allentown Paper Show that opened on Saturday the 27th, coinciding with AIPAD this year.
A series of motion studies ca 1880s by pioneer scientific and artistic photographer Étienne-Jules Marey in the Michael Hoppen Gallery, London booth, AIPAD 2024. © Jeremy Rowe
For additional background, AIPAD offered a 2013 publication On Collecting Photography, which primarily focuses on 20th and 21st century photography, and provides an introduction and general overview to the dealer and collecting marketplace from the perspective of AIPAD and its dealers.
One of the core strengths of AIPAD is its ability to build community among those who share a passion for photography. The AIPAD “The Photography Show” and associated exhibitions “shadow” shows provide a unique opportunity to meet artists, collectors, and curators. And see one of the best ephemeral photographic exhibits annually.
If you share my passion for photographs, AIPAD is one of the seminal events each year. The 2025 dates have yet to be released, but when dates are announced, mark your calendar if you can and plan to visit AIPAD in New York City next spring.
Jeremy Rowe
Contributing Writer
Jeremy Rowe has collected researched and written about historic photography for over 30 years. His collecting has focused on 19th and early 20th century photographs – ranging from daguerreotypes and cased images to mounted photographs, real photo postcards, and vernacular images with an emphasis on Arizona and the Southwest, Lower Manhattan, and the open-ended category of “images that strike me.”
Jeremy has curated exhibitions and served on the boards of the Daguerreian Society, National Stereoscopic Association, Daniel Nagrin Film, Theater and Dance Foundation, In Focus, and Ephemera Society of America. Jeremy is currently working with the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs to establish a National Stereoscopic Research Collection and Research Fellowship.
Jeremy has written numerous publications about historic photography, including Arizona Photographers 1865 – 1920 a History and Directory, Arizona Real Photo Postcards a History and Portfolio, and Arizona Stereographs 1865- 1930.
Jeremy has three degrees from Arizona State University and is an Emeritus Professor. He is currently a Senior Research Scientist at New York University and travels between New York City and Arizona.