The annual Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD) moved their annual meeting in New York City back to its traditional pre-COVID schedule, at the end of March/early April. This year, the VIP opening was Thursday evening, March 30 with public hours March 31 through April 2. Like last year, after moving from earlier venues at the Armory and Pier 94, the show and lectures were held on two floors at Center 415 on 5th Avenue between 37th and 38th Streets.
Individual curators, potential donors, collectors, and dealers to local private and public collections hold meetings in hotels and visit galleries across Manhattan before (and during) AIPAD. The multiple “shadow” shows that are also held during AIPAD weekend were consolidated this year to a single event: the NYC Vintage Photo Fair on March 31 (with a second day focused on both photographs and postcards) at the New Yorker Hotel across from Penn Station.
Many curators, including those from the Metropolitan, National Gallery, Smithsonian, Houston, and the Rijksmuseum, joined scores of private curators and consultants, dealers, and collectors at the opening of AIPAD Thursday evening. The NYC Vintage Photo Fair opened before AIPAD and drew a huge crowd. Offered material ranged from daguerreotypes and other early processes to contemporary work including several examples of computer-generated AI images.
In addition to the dealer and gallery offerings, AIPAD hosted two AIPAD talks each of the three days on topics from Curating Photography at the Rijksmuseum and Hip Hop: Conscious, Unconscious to The Joy of Collecting: A Conversation between W. M. Hunt and John Bennette.
For those interested in other activities, photography related museum exhibitions available during the weekend included: Berenice Abbott’s New York Album, 1929 and Richard Avedon: MURALS at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; New York Now: Home (first of an ongoing series of triennial photography exhibitions) at the Museum of the City of New York; The City as Spectacle at the Museum of Modern Art; and “I’ll Have What She’s Having”: The Jewish Deli at the New York Historical Society, in addition to photography related shows at galleries across the city. [Sidebar from editor: Did you know that Director Rob Reiner’s mother, Estelle, said those words in the film When Harry Met Sally at Katz’s Deli? The line was actually suggested by Billy Crystal.]
The moveable feast of photography that is offered in New York City during AIPAD week is hard to believe, or to replicate any other time of the year anywhere in the world.
Feature Image: Attendees on the first floor at AIPAD 2023 NYC by Jeremy Rowe
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.