Opening on Wednesday night, May 23, at the Park Avenue Armory, The Photography Show presented by AIPAD is the longest-running fair dedicated to photography in the world. Anchored by the seasoned members of the Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD), this year’s edition also features a fresh cohort of emerging and established dealers presenting work in New York through Sunday, with participants traveling from across the globe.
“On one of the first gorgeous spring days in New York City, it was fabulous to see a line around the block for our VIP preview!” AIPAD director Lydia Melamed Johnson told Observer the following day. “The energy throughout the fair has been palpable for our first two days. We’re thrilled to see great transactions happening—even amidst a difficult moment for our markets and our world—and the momentum feels great. The response has been so encouraging for the medium of photography.”
A walk through the bustling aisles on opening night made two things clear—one encouraging, the other more concerning: iconic names in photography remain in high demand and at relatively accessible prices, but opportunities for experimentation or innovation in the medium feel notably restrained. The crowd, made up of genuine photography enthusiasts (a notably different audience from typical art fairs) and the sub-$50,000 price point, likely fueled the buying frenzy. Dealers were seen pulling works from portfolios nonstop, and many exhibitors reported both private and institutional acquisitions by day two.
“It’s been a great fair so far!” Tom Gitterman of Gitterman Gallery told Observer. “Sales have been strong, and the audience seems excited to be here and appreciates the diversity of work being exhibited.” The New York dealer showed provocative black-and-white portraits by Diane Arbus—Female Impersonator with Jewels from 1958 priced at $30,000—as well as several Nan Goldin photographs under $10,000, and surreal early experiments like François Kollar’s 1933 gelatin silver print, priced at $7,500.
Across booths, the fair reaffirmed its strength in vintage gems—some by canonical figures, others ripe for rediscovery—often priced under $10,000, a striking contrast to their counterparts in the contemporary art market. At Stephen Daiter Gallery (Chicago), for instance, one could acquire works by Elliott Erwitt, a seminal figure in post-WWII photojournalism and member of Magnum Photos, for around $10,000—including iconic shots of Jacqueline Kennedy at her husband’s funeral and delightfully offbeat scenes from Arkansas beauty pageants and New Orleans street life.
Names that recur across the fair’s booths include pillars of American photography: from Weegee’s surrealist exercises in urban voyeurism to the refined, fetishistic surfaces of Irving Penn and the spatial psychodramas of Nan Goldin—who, notably, joined Gagosian’s roster last year.
Among the standout works on view opening night was George Platt Lynes’s The Lovers, Laurie Douglas and William Harbach (1947), a cinematic sequence of romantic moments fragmented across still frames, in the unfolding of an intimate narrative between two figures through scenes of tension, nudity, and vulnerability on a bed ofchoreographed sensuality. Presented by Keith de Lellis Gallery, the piece was priced at $145,000. Also at Keith de Lellis, a vintage gelatin print by Anthony Barboza—Ming Smith, NYC (1970s)—used overlay to explore psychological perceptions of urban life, priced at $9,500. Nearby, Barbara Morgan’s photomontage City Shell—a surreal overlay of a seashell on an urban streetscape—offered a striking reminder of the medium’s experimental roots, priced at $25,000.
The fair didn’t shy away from historical titans, either. At Michael Hoppen Gallery’s booth, a conceptual photomontage titled Jealousy by László Moholy-Nagy was shown alongside works by André Kertész, Brassaï, August Sander, Otto Steinert, Robert Doisneau and Henri Cartier-Bresson, presented by Galerie Johannes Faber (Vienna).
A solo spotlight on Larry Fink (1941–2023) presented voyeuristic, unfiltered portraits of societal rituals. Curated by Peter Barberie, interim head of Prints, Drawings and Photographs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the show was organized by the MUUS Collection, a private foundation focused on American photography archives from the 20th century.
Among the galleries debuting at AIPAD, London-based LARGE GLASS presented a solo booth for Italian photographer Guido Guidi, known for his contemplative, meditative images of everyday objects and spaces, offering a lyrical stillness that rivals Luigi Ghirri. “We’ve had some great museum groups come by, and I’m encouraged by how many people already know Guidi’s work,” gallery director Charlotte Schepke told Observer. “I felt responsible for bringing European photography to this fair; Guidi is underrepresented in American collections despite being the most sought-after living photographer in Italy. I feel we’ve made a real impact.”
Elsewhere, Bruce Silverstein reported to Observer to have closed already few great by the second day, including a work by Sarah Sense, Alligator Dreams, for $30,000. “There’s been a lot of foot traffic here already! People seem happy to be here,” said Bruce Silverstein.
Meanwhile, Obscura Gallery from Santa Fe gave a snapshot of their upcoming show featuring New York-based photographer Lynn Stern, who will open at the gallery in June. Influenced by abstract expressionist painting and working as a lens-based photographer, Stern views photography as a medium of light and not representation, and aims to make visible what is invisible. Reversing the “Pictorialist” approach to photography, this luminosity indirectly characterizes her pictures; natural light connects all of her 30 series, regardless of the subject matter. “Collectors and visitors flocked to Obscura’s booth at the show’s preview to view Lynn’s two large-format luminous works from her Quickening and Force Field series – rare abstract works at the show,” Jennifer Schlesinger, Obscura Gallery Founder and Director, told Observer. Stern’s work is already included in museum collections worldwide, among them the Brooklyn Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Victoria & Albert Museum.
Still, the fair lacked a sense of urgency around discovery despite its press release promise of “an emphasis on emerging artists, young galleries and new curatorial approaches.” Few booths showcased work pushing photography forward, even in the fair’s revised, reenvisioned Discovery Sector, raising a larger question about the medium’s future and its role in defining it.
Some rare exceptions stood out for their conceptual ambition and poetic sensitivity. As part of the Aperture Prize exhibition, Iranian photographer Hashem Shakeri presented cinematic, psychologically charged images exploring identity, displacement and ecological anxiety in contemporary Iran. Globally exhibited at venues like Les Rencontres d’Arles and Somerset House, and featured in The New York Times, Le Monde and Time, Shakeri uses photography as a quiet but resonant form of resistance.
Mexican photographer Tania Franco Klein (b. 1990) also stood out with a solo booth at Rose Gallery. Her saturated, psychologically rich images straddle the line between staged drama and observational documentary, grappling with societal anxiety and the surreal textures of modern life. Also featured at Yancey Richardson Gallery, Klein’s works range in price from $7,000 to $27,000. “We’re thrilled to be highlighting Tania Franco Klein’s work ahead of her inclusion in this year’s New Photography series at MoMA,” told Observer the gallery Associate director, Jaushua Rombaoa “Visitors have been intrigued by the way she installed the booth—she brings an architect’s precision and a lyrical narrative to her presentation.”
Yancey Richardson also spotlighted two additional recent additions to their roster: Maria Antelman and Jenny Calivas. “This year’s Photography Show looks better than ever. We’ve had a particularly strong response to our curation of female photographers working with the body,” said a gallery rep. “Jenny recently entered the Whitney’s collection, and Tania is entering MoMA’s, so institutional interest is strong.”
CLAMP Gallery brought a refreshingly bold mix of established names and younger artists, including a 2022 work by Lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber: a staged, surreal image of a subway train stranded in sand, priced at $22,000 (edition of 15). “Last night felt like the old days—there was an incredible crowd,” said the gallery’s founder, Brian Paul Clamp. “Institutional curators have come through, and the mood is buoyant.” By the end of opening day, the Brooklyn-based gallery had sold a Robert Mapplethorpe self-portrait and an Arlene Gottfried vintage print.
What is the future of photography and its market?
Unlike Paris Photo, which last year had already extensively expanded on the digital side, The Photography Show appears to remain largely anchored in the past of photography, without questioning or embracing the potential evolution of the photographic image into a more digital and multimedia dimension—one that might more easily engage younger audiences. What struck me was a broader identity crisis within the medium itself, reminiscent of the anxiety that surfaced when photography first emerged and was feared as the death of traditional art, particularly painting. But this isn’t new: photography had already undergone a similar reckoning with the advent of cinema, which transformed the still, crystallized moment into a continuous, moving one.
The arrival of digital tools—set against the tactile legacy of analog—has only deepened and complicated this crisis, unlocking new expressive possibilities beyond realism. At the same time, it has made photography almost too available, too ubiquitous, too easily consumed—both as a medium and as a product—to retain the elusive aura that once set it apart.
This brings us back to a fundamental question: What is photography today, and what does it mean? More importantly, what can still be its market, on the collectible side? In a world ruled by images, photography is paradoxically everywhere—ubiquitous as visual output, yet becoming almost invisible as an artistic medium.
According to an Artnet report, vintage photography dominated the top end of the photography market in 2024, with prints by historical figures like Edward Weston and Richard Avedon leading auction results. Still, the highest prices were achieved by artists like Richard Prince, who has successfully navigated both the contemporary art and photography spheres—his Untitled (Cowboy) sold at the 21st Century Evening Sale in New York last November. At that same auction, an iconic photograph by William Eggleston was also sold for $1,441,500. The result was followed by an entire white-glove sale dedicated to Eggleston’s dye-transfer printer’s proofs from the collection of Guy Stricherz and Irene Malli, which closed at Phillips last March with a total of $5,665,950—setting a new auction record for the artist with Los Alamos (101 prints), 1965–1974, selling for $1,875,000.
Even beyond the auction world and its canonized names, the global digital photography market is projected to reach $50.215 billion. It is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.20 percent between 2024 and 2031. Experts attribute this potential growth to rising interest in photography as an art form and the expanding influence of technology, including A.I. integration—an aspect almost entirely absent from this year’s fair.
While the fair had an extensive section dedicated to photography books—another medium through which photography circulates and gets collected—there were no screens presenting other possible evolutions of the medium integrating digital realities, to explore its future evolution at the intersection with technology and digitalisation.
Photography emerges from a world perpetually waiting to be documented, born from the desire—and perhaps the illusion—to capture and preserve it in an image that might withstand the erosion of time. Yet beneath its surface immediacy, the medium harbors deep complexity, continually grappling with society’s shifting behaviors and collective consciousness, absorbing and translating their evolution over time.
More interestingly, it’s worth recalling that photography originated as a medium closely tied to scientific research—an extension of humankind’s impulse to capture, control, and impose order on the generative chaos of nature that surrounds our existence. From the outset, however, there has also been a parallel drive to challenge the medium creatively, to explore its expressive and imaginative potential beyond the purely documentary. Historically, this has been pursued not only through experimentation with the camera and the act of shooting but also through the process of bringing the image to life—developing it on a chosen surface, printing it in a specific manner, and determining how it is ultimately displayed. The possibilities for extending and manipulating an image’s meaning are nearly infinite, shaped by everything from saturation and resolution to the context or surface in which the photograph is presented.
Shooting a photo, traditionally, means fixing a moment in time—but also stealing it, imprisoning it in a continuous present. A continuous present that, by its very nature, implies evolution of the medium—something photography fairs and collecting platforms may need to actively embrace if they hope to remain relevant in the future.
If a fair’s role is to present the medium’s current state and spark dialogue about its future, then a selection like the one at this year’s The Photography Show’s conservative approach raises more questions than it answers about the future of the medium, and its market.
The Photography Show runs at Park Avenue Armory through Sunday, May 27.
#AIPADs #Photography #Show #Highlights #Vintage #Icons #Accesible #Prices
