NEW YORK, NY.- Attendance was record-breaking at the 32nd edition of The AIPAD Photography Show New York , which closed on Sunday, April 1, at the Park Avenue Armory. The Show, which is the longest-running exhibition of its kind in the world, reported strong sales across the board and will be remembered by many as the best AIPAD ever. Attendance increased by ten percent to 11,000, up from 10,000 last year, representing the largest crowds ever for the Show.

Gallerists and collectors alike expressed widespread enthusiasm for the Show, which is presented by The Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD). Seventy-five of the world’s leading fine art photography galleries presented a wide range of museum-quality work, including contemporary, modern, and 19th-century photographs, as well as photo-based art, video, and new media.

AIPAD kicked off with an opening night gala to benefit inMotion, which provides free legal services to low-income women, on Wednesday, March 28.

“A number of collectors told me that the exciting range of important photographs made it the best AIPAD ever,” said Stephen Bulger, president of AIPAD and president of the Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto .

The fair was attended by a wide range of notables from the worlds of art, entertainment, fashion, finance, and the media, including Glenn Close, Bradley Cooper, Bette Midler, Téa Leoni, Jason Sudeikis, Richard Prince, Rineke Dijkstra, Christopher Wool, Mark Seliger, Bruce Davidson, Elisabeth Subrin, George Tice, Phyllis Galembo, Accra Schepp, Bill Cunningham, Olivo Barbieri, Mary Ellen Mark, Paolo Ventura, Sloan Keck, Richard and Ronay Menschel, Joseph Baio, Kenneth Montague, Robert Menschel, Vicki Goldberg, Matthew S. Witkovsky, Christiane Fischer, Sarah Meister, Christopher Phillips, Joshua Chuang, Julia Bryan-Wilson, Maria Antonella Pelizzari, Jennifer Blessing, Simon Baker, Sandra Philips, and Malcolm Daniel.

AIPAD also drew a wide range of curators from such institutions as The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; International Center for Photography, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; The Art Institute of Chicago; George Eastman House, Rochester, NY; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA; Portland Museum of Art, ME; Haggerty Museum of Art, Milwaukee; New Orleans Museum of Art; Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Cambridge, MA; Baltimore Museum of Art; National Gallery of Canada, Ontario; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; and Tate, London.

SALES HIGHLIGHTS
“We had a spectacular show,” noted Martin Weinstein of Weinstein Gallery, Minneapolis , who sold work by Alec Soth, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Vera Lutter. “It was our best AIPAD,” said Barry Singer, Barry Singer Gallery, Petaluma , CA , who sold 33 photographs, including prints by Ansel Adams and Minor White.
“It was my best AIPAD,” echoed Richard Moore of Richard Moore Photographs, Oakland , CA. “People were eager to buy because they didn’t want to wait until the last day, when it could have been gone.” The gallery sold prints by Imogen Cunningham for $35,000, as well as photographs by Peter Sekaer and Dorothea Lange.

“Energy is up. People are excited,” noted Yossi Milo Gallery , New York . “We are very happy with sales.” Charles Isaacs Photographs, New York , sold an 1858 albumen print by Gustave Le Gray for $175,000 and an 1865 photograph of the moon by Lewis Rutherford for $30,000.

David Zwirner, New York , presented a solo exhibition of new work by Philip-Lorca diCorcia and sold a number of prints, including several large-scale photographs for $25,000. The gallery commented that they met new collectors and art consultants and were pleased to see many curators and museum groups among the attendees.
The Weston Gallery, Inc., Carmel , CA , sold Paul Strand’s Central Park, New York , a platinum print from 1915-1916, for $195,000. A lantern slide of the image is in the Paul Strand Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

“There was a good assortment of visitors ranging from institutions and collectors to new buyers,” noted Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe , NM , which sold more than 45 photographs, including Stephen Wilkes’s Day to Night, 2011, for $35,000.
Nineteenth-century work sold well to U.S. and international museums and private collectors at Hans P. Kraus Jr. Inc., New York , with prices ranging up to six figures, including early photography by Eugène Atget, John Dillwyn Llewelyn, Louis-Emile Durandelle, Etienne-Jules Marey, and Rufus Anson.

“We saw a lot of American curators that don’t make it to Europe since their travel budgets have been slaughtered,” commented Daniel Blau, Munich . Gary Edwards Gallery, Washington , DC , noted the overall impression of AIPAD was “excellent” and sold J. B. Greene’s Algeria, an 1856 calotype, for $40,000.

New exhibitors to AIPAD such as Sasha Wolf of Sasha Wolf Gallery, New York , said the show was “great” and that they “met a lot of fabulous people.” The gallery made more than 20 sales for their artists, including David Nadel and Catherine Wolkoff. Alan Klotz Gallery , New York , found buyers for 17 photographs, including works by Aaron Siskind for $9,000 and Harry Callahan for $12,000.

“It’s been great, our best AIPAD ever,” said Peter Fetterman of Peter Fetterman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, who sold prints by Stephen Wilkes, Lillian Bassman, and Elisabeth Sunday. “We’ve been very pleased,” noted Andrea Meislin Gallery , New York , which sold photographs by Barry Frydlender, Tai Shochat, Michal Ronnen Safdie, and Rina Castelnuovo.

Etherton Gallery, Tucson , sold work by Duane Michaels, O. Winston Link, Lee Friedlander, Bruce Davidson, and Harry Callahan, among others. Steven Kasher Gallery , New York , sold a number of photographs by George Platt Lynes for $10,000, as well as work by Weegee, Christopher Thomas, Vivian Maier, and Chip Simone. Throckmorton Fine Art, New York , sold works by Tina Modotti, in the $50,000 range.

HackelBury Fine Art Ltd., London , commented that they “met a lot of younger collectors” and “appreciated the atmosphere of connoisseurship and friendliness.” 798 Photo Gallery, Beijing , sold more than 20 prints and said their first year at AIPAD was “great. We love it.”