This is Part 2 of my 2012 AIPAD Review, covering the New York area galleries and a few others located in the larger Northeast (organized alphabetically). The rest of the galleries from around the world, as well as the background on the format I am using, can be found in Part 1 (here).
Bonni Benrubi Gallery (here): Matthew Pillsbury (2), Karine Laval (2), Massimo Vitali (1), Paolo Pellegrin (2), Abelardo Morell (4), Jim Marshall (3), William Gottlieb (2), Amalie Rothschild (1), Linda McCartney (2), Chris Payne (2), Simon Norfolk (1). In this intricate new work, Morell seems to be heading toward Sommer's cut paper collages. (priced at $5000)
Danziger Gallery (here): Robert Frank (8), Christopher Bucklow (1), Karen Knorr (2), Garry Fabian Miller (6), Hendrik Kerstens (2), Susan Derges (2), Chris Levine (1), Yuji Obata (4), Evelyn Hofer (4). My interest in Kerstens' portraits persists, and the two new images in the booth here hold the wall with authority. The aluminum hat is strangely lovely. (priced at $10000)
After seeing so much abstract work from Miller, I was surprised to discover these brand new photograms of flowers. They are small and delicate, in soft colors. (priced at $10000)
Keith De Lellis Gallery (here): Flip Schulke (1), Irving Penn (7), Horst P. Horst (2), Cecil Beaton (1), George Platt Lynes (1), Florence Meyer Homolka (1), Richard Avedon (1), Ruth Bernhard (3), Gleb Derujinsky (1), Margaret Bourke-White (3), Edward Steichen (4), Jorgen Roos (3), Eric Schaal (2), Nino Migliori (1), Herbert Matter (3), Brassai (2), Keld Helmer-Petersen (1), Arnold Newman (1), Weegee (1), Simpson Kalisher (2), Beauford Smith (3), Marvin Newman (1), Henri Cartier-Bresson (1), Alexander Rodchenko (1), Barbara Morgan (1). There was plenty of fabulous vintage work in this booth, anchored by a group of Steichens, with help from several Bourke-Whites and Bernhards. This 1925 Steichen boat (tucked on a side wall) was my favorite image in the entire fair. (priced at $125000)
Gitterman Gallery (here): Gita Lenz (2), Frederick Sommer (1), Edmund Teske (3), Arthur Siegel (1), Hiroshi Sugimoto (3), Adam Bartos (1), Ralph Eugene Meatyard (9), Saul Leiter (2), Robert Frank (1), Leon Levinstein (1), Nan Goldin (1), Edward Weston (1), plus 2 bins. A classic Weston industrial image - Middletown, OH steel smokestacks from 1922. (priced at $300000)
Howard Greenberg Gallery (here): Edward Steichen (2), Berenice Abbott (1), Jaromir Funke (1), Sid Grossman (5), William Klein (3), Bruce Davidson (4), Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (1), Jerome Liebling (1), Martin Munkacsi (1), Robert Frank (1), Bill Brandt (1), Brett Weston (1), Dorothea Lange (1), David Goldblatt (1 diptych), Saul Leiter (7). This 1915 Steichen is one of the most iconic florals in photographic history; not to be missed. (priced at $275000)
Higher Pictures (here): George Dureau (5), Jessica Eaton (4), Emily Roysdon (12). I like that these new Eaton abstractions are getting more and more visually complex. (priced at $4000)
I hadn't ever heard of George Dureau until Kim gave me some background on him. Apparently, Mapplethorpe knew him in the early 1980s and admired his work. The aesthetic affinity is quite clear, especially in the made nudes of men with amputations. (priced at $4000)
Edwynn Houk Gallery (here): Joel Meyerowtiz (1), Vera Lutter (1), Robert Frank (1), Man Ray (1), Sally Mann (1), Bill Brandt (5), Alfred Stieglitz (1), Sebastiaan Bremer (1), Lee Friedlander (1), Dannyn Lyon (1), Herb Ritts (6), Stephen Shore (1), Robert Polidori (1). The series of close up Brandt eyes on the back wall of this booth was an unexpected treat.
Robert Klein Gallery (here): Jessica Backhaus (5), Francesca Woodman (8), Cig Harvey (4), Henri Cartier-Bresson (2), Walker Evans (2), Aaron Siskind (1), Mario Giacomelli (1), Brassai (1), Lee Friedlander (1), Berenice Abbott (2), Irving Penn (5), Harry Callahan (3), Edward Weston (2), Elliot Erwitt (1).
Hans P. Kraus Jr. Inc. (here): Louis-Emile Durandelle (2), Charles Soulier (2), Julia Margaret Cameron (3), Rufus Anson (1), William Henry Fox Talbot (6), Henri Courmont (1), Jospeh Vicomte Vigier (1), Eugene Cuvelier (1), Gustave Le Gray (1), Unknown (2), Edward Steichen (2), Guillaume Duchenne De Boulogne (1), Etienne-Jules Marey (1), Putnam & Valentine (1), Guillaume Duchenne De Boulogne and Adrian Tournachon (1), Andre Adolphe Eugene Disderi (1).
Robert Mann Gallery (here): Julie Blackmon (4), Leo Goldstein (1), Lisette Model (1), Dan Weiner (1), Weegee (1), Aaron Siskind (1), David Vestal (1), Fred Stein (2), Jorn Vahnhofen (1), Lewis Baltz (1), Robbert Flick (1), Henry Wessel (1), Richard Misrach (2), Jeff Brouws (1), Joe Deal (2), Michael Kenna (4), Chip Hooper (1), Minor White (1), Ansel Adams (1).
Yossi Milo Gallery (here): Sze Tsung Leong (1), Ezra Stoller (2), Lise Sarfati (2), Tim Hetherington (8), Doug Rickard (2), Alison Rossiter (3), Chris McCaw (2), Matthew Brandt (1), Pieter Hugo (1).
Yancey Richardson Gallery (here): Kenneth Josephson (4), Andrew Moore (1), Victoria Sambunaris (1), Laura Letinsky (1), Olivo Barbieri (1), Rachel Perry Welty (2), Bernd and Hilla Becher (1 set of 9), Sharon Core (4).
Julie Saul Gallery (here): Rineke Dijkstra (2), Justine Reyes (2), Charlotte Dumas (2), Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao (1), Reiner Gerritsen (1), Gonzalo Puch (1), Didier Massard (1), Sarah Anne Johnson (1), Miroslav Tichy (5), Gerard Petrus Fieret (2), Nikolai Bakharev (4).
Michael Shapiro Photographs (here): Irving Penn (3), Andre Kertesz (2), Josef Koudelka (1), Jaromir Funke (2), Henri Cartier-Bresson (1), Imogen Cunningham (1), Elmer Blew (1), Harry Callahan (1), John Gutman (1), Ansel Adams (2), Dorothea Lange (1), Edward Weston (2), Robert Frank (7), Walker Evans (1), Edward Steichen (1), William Klein (1), Minor White (4), and a wall covering selection of small Jefferson Hayman works. I thoroughly enjoyed the layered shadows in this cut paper Funke. (priced at $80000)
The crusted snow by White was an image I had never seen before and is apparently unique; I liked its sinuous figure/ground form. (priced at $18000)
Bruce Silverstein Gallery (here): Edward Weston (1), Lotte Jacobi (1), Edward Steichen (1), Robert Frank (1), Aaron Sikind (2), Lisette Model (4), Andre Kertesz (5), Constantin Brancusi (6), Trine Sondergaard (1), Ryan Weideman (6), Michael Wolf (2), Trine Sondergaard & Nicolai Howalt (5), Keith Smith (28). Bruce has a show of Brancusi photographs coming up, and from the looks of this small selection of prints, it's going to be a superlative exhibit. This shiny gem was priced at $250000.
While the idea is straightforward, I liked these enveloping snowstorm trees by Trine Søndergaard and Nicolai Howalt on the outside of the booth. The whiteout is supremely silent.
L. Parker Stephenson Photographs (here): Chris Killip (1), Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen (2), Walker Evans (1), John Cohen (4), Mike Disfarmer (1), Andre De Dienes (1), Erwin Blumenfeld (1), Claude Tolmer (1), Anton Bruehl (1), Gyorgy Kepes (1), Gordon Koster (2), W. Eugene Smith (2), Jan Yoors (3), Inge Morath (1). Parker spent some time giving me some further context on 1970s/1980s British photography and introducing me to the terrific early 1970s photographs of Byker by Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen. (priced at $2500/$3000)
Gallery 339 (here): Philip Toledano (1), Edward McHugh (4), Richard Kagan (2), Amanda Means (1), Ion Zupcu (4), Tetsugo Hayakutake (1), Martine Fougeron (2), Rita Bernstein (2), Yuichi Hibi (3), William Larson (2), Nadine Rovner (2).
Rick Wester Fine Art (here): Richard Avedon (2), Ralph Eugene Meatyard (2), Cindy Sherman (1 diptych), Bill Brandt (3), Joni Sternbach (2), Christian Vogh (1), Marilyn Minter (1), Andres Serrano (1), Laurie Lambrecht (1, 1 diptych), Sharon Harper (1), Sandi Fifield (1), Ken Schles (2), Irving Penn (2), Stephen Shore (1). As collectors of Brandt nudes, we are always on the look out for vintage prints that come out of the woodwork. This was the best Brandt nude I saw at the fair. (priced at $24000)
Sasha Wolf Gallery (here): Andrew Borowiec (6), Peter Kayafas (4), David Nadel (4), Katherine Wolkoff (8), Tribble and Mancenido (1), Paul McDonough (4), Eleanor Carucci (4), TrujilloPaumier (8).
Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery (here): Edward Burtynsky (2), Ola Kohlemainen (1), Jim Campbell (1), Niko Luoma (1), Susanna Majuri (2), Shirley Shor (1).
David Zwirner (here): A solo booth show of the work of Philip-Lorca diCorcia (11). Glad to see Zwirner showing at AIPAD and embracing the photography world. This small sampler spanned many of diCorcia's projects, including a couple of newer works.
From one photography collector to another: a venue for thoughtful discussion of vintage and contemporary photography via reviews of recent museum exhibitions, gallery shows, photography auctions, photo books, art fairs and other items of interest to photography collectors large and small.
Friday, March 30, 2012
2012 AIPAD Review, Part 1 of 2
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.
Stephen Daiter Gallery (here): John Gossage (2), Imogen Cunningham (3), Art Sinsabaugh (2), Adam Fuss (1), Andre Kertesz (4), Harry Callahan (1), Stanley Kubrick (1), Weegee (3), Sid Grossman (1), Marvin Newman (1), Aaron Siskind (1), Minor White (1), Frederick Sommer (2), Alex Webb (4). I continue to find Sinsabaugh's elongated Midwestern landscapes to be powerfully original; this one was priced at $16000 and already sold.
Catherine Edelman Gallery (here): Gary Briechle (9), John Cyr (9), Daniel Beltra (1), Viktoria Sorochinski (4), Lauren Simonutti (10), Kelli Connell (2), Gregory Scott (1). Briechle's gelatin silver prints from wet plate collodion negatives are darkly old school. Look closely at scar on this wrinkled hand, echoed by the gathering of the sleeve (reasonably priced at $1400 each). John Cyr's images of the developer trays of famous photographers (Mann, Siskind, Gowin, Davidson etc.) were also drawing a crowd.
Etherton Gallery (here): Harry Callahan (7), Manuel Alvarez Bravo (4), Frederick Sommer (6), Emmet Gowin (4), Allen Ginsberg (1), August Sander (1), Duane Michals (1), John Gutman (1), Wright Morris (2), Henry Wessel (3), Ansel Adams (2), Richard Misrach (3), O. Winston Link (2), Ralph Gibson (2), Lee Friedlander (2), Horace Bristol (1), Peter Stackpole (2), Rodrigo Moya (1), Ted Croner (1), Flor Garduno (1), Joel-Peter Witkin (1), Eikoh Hosoe (1), Aaron Siskind (4), Michael O'Neil (1), Danny Lyon (4). I think the flash lit mid 1970s night Misrachs are among his best; I enjoyed this one with its spiky verticals and the long exposure light trail in the sky.
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.
Halsted Gallery (here): Irving Penn (4), Jaromir Funke (1), Brassai (1), Wynn Bullock (1), Edward Weston (4), Andre Kertesz (2), Michael Kenna (1), Barbara Morgan (1), Bill Brandt (1), Henri Cartier-Bresson (1), Arnold Newman (2), Lucien Herve (1), Berenice Abbott (4), Cornell Capa (1), William Clift (1), Carleton Watkins (2), Don Hong-On (1), Margaret Bourke-White (1), Annie Leibowitz (1). This intimate, reasonably priced ($12000) Funke abstraction from the late 1920s was a quick seller.
Paul M. Hertzmann Inc (here): Sherril Schell (1), Clarence John Laughlin (1), Ei-Q (3), Ansel Adams (6), Henri Cartier-Bresson (1), Edward Weston (2), Alfred Stieglitz (1), Dorothea Lange (1), Man Ray (1), Carlotta Corpon (1), Eugene Atget (1), Dennis Stock (1), Frank Espada (1), Joe Schwartz (1), Roger Schall (1), Minor White (1), Ruth Bernhard (1), Gerard Petrus Fieret (1), plus 4 bins. Someone (annoyingly) snapped up this sublime Schell of Penn Station almost immediately, as it had a red dot just minutes into the evening gala.
Paul gave me a short primer on Japanese photographer Ei-Q (aka Hideo Sugita), who was apparently of Eikoh Hosoe's teachers. I very much enjoyed this densely layered photogram, made using cut paper stencils and modifications to the negative. (priced at $22500)
There were also a handful of small 1930s vintage Ansel Adams prints on view, as well as a lovely solarized calla lily by Corpon.
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.
Lee Gallery (here): Walker Evans (1), Julia Margaret Cameron (1), JB Greene (1), Bisson Freres (1), Carleton Watkins (1), Charles Negre (1), Harry Callahan (7), Robert Adams (4), plus 4 bins. The Lee's booth was dominated by a string of exquisite vintage Callahans across the back wall. Below are two nudes that came out of the boxes for a closer look: a terrific early (mid 1960s) Barbara Crane, and a sculptural 1934 Weston of Charis.
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.
Joel Soroka Gallery (here): Lynn Bianchi (1), Cig Harvey (4), Franco Donnagio (1), Berencie Abbott (2), Jindrich Vanek (1), Man Ray (1), Johan Hagemeyer (1), Ilse Bing (1), Brassai (1), Brett Weston (1), Gyorgy Kepes (3), Beatrice Helg (4). While there was an excellent group of Kepes abstracts along the back wall, this elegant Hagemeyer floral caught my eye, fully priced at $40000.
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.
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.
Stephen Daiter Gallery (here): John Gossage (2), Imogen Cunningham (3), Art Sinsabaugh (2), Adam Fuss (1), Andre Kertesz (4), Harry Callahan (1), Stanley Kubrick (1), Weegee (3), Sid Grossman (1), Marvin Newman (1), Aaron Siskind (1), Minor White (1), Frederick Sommer (2), Alex Webb (4). I continue to find Sinsabaugh's elongated Midwestern landscapes to be powerfully original; this one was priced at $16000 and already sold.
Catherine Edelman Gallery (here): Gary Briechle (9), John Cyr (9), Daniel Beltra (1), Viktoria Sorochinski (4), Lauren Simonutti (10), Kelli Connell (2), Gregory Scott (1). Briechle's gelatin silver prints from wet plate collodion negatives are darkly old school. Look closely at scar on this wrinkled hand, echoed by the gathering of the sleeve (reasonably priced at $1400 each). John Cyr's images of the developer trays of famous photographers (Mann, Siskind, Gowin, Davidson etc.) were also drawing a crowd.
Etherton Gallery (here): Harry Callahan (7), Manuel Alvarez Bravo (4), Frederick Sommer (6), Emmet Gowin (4), Allen Ginsberg (1), August Sander (1), Duane Michals (1), John Gutman (1), Wright Morris (2), Henry Wessel (3), Ansel Adams (2), Richard Misrach (3), O. Winston Link (2), Ralph Gibson (2), Lee Friedlander (2), Horace Bristol (1), Peter Stackpole (2), Rodrigo Moya (1), Ted Croner (1), Flor Garduno (1), Joel-Peter Witkin (1), Eikoh Hosoe (1), Aaron Siskind (4), Michael O'Neil (1), Danny Lyon (4). I think the flash lit mid 1970s night Misrachs are among his best; I enjoyed this one with its spiky verticals and the long exposure light trail in the sky.
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.
Halsted Gallery (here): Irving Penn (4), Jaromir Funke (1), Brassai (1), Wynn Bullock (1), Edward Weston (4), Andre Kertesz (2), Michael Kenna (1), Barbara Morgan (1), Bill Brandt (1), Henri Cartier-Bresson (1), Arnold Newman (2), Lucien Herve (1), Berenice Abbott (4), Cornell Capa (1), William Clift (1), Carleton Watkins (2), Don Hong-On (1), Margaret Bourke-White (1), Annie Leibowitz (1). This intimate, reasonably priced ($12000) Funke abstraction from the late 1920s was a quick seller.
Paul M. Hertzmann Inc (here): Sherril Schell (1), Clarence John Laughlin (1), Ei-Q (3), Ansel Adams (6), Henri Cartier-Bresson (1), Edward Weston (2), Alfred Stieglitz (1), Dorothea Lange (1), Man Ray (1), Carlotta Corpon (1), Eugene Atget (1), Dennis Stock (1), Frank Espada (1), Joe Schwartz (1), Roger Schall (1), Minor White (1), Ruth Bernhard (1), Gerard Petrus Fieret (1), plus 4 bins. Someone (annoyingly) snapped up this sublime Schell of Penn Station almost immediately, as it had a red dot just minutes into the evening gala.
Paul gave me a short primer on Japanese photographer Ei-Q (aka Hideo Sugita), who was apparently of Eikoh Hosoe's teachers. I very much enjoyed this densely layered photogram, made using cut paper stencils and modifications to the negative. (priced at $22500)
There were also a handful of small 1930s vintage Ansel Adams prints on view, as well as a lovely solarized calla lily by Corpon.
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.
Lee Gallery (here): Walker Evans (1), Julia Margaret Cameron (1), JB Greene (1), Bisson Freres (1), Carleton Watkins (1), Charles Negre (1), Harry Callahan (7), Robert Adams (4), plus 4 bins. The Lee's booth was dominated by a string of exquisite vintage Callahans across the back wall. Below are two nudes that came out of the boxes for a closer look: a terrific early (mid 1960s) Barbara Crane, and a sculptural 1934 Weston of Charis.
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.
Joel Soroka Gallery (here): Lynn Bianchi (1), Cig Harvey (4), Franco Donnagio (1), Berencie Abbott (2), Jindrich Vanek (1), Man Ray (1), Johan Hagemeyer (1), Ilse Bing (1), Brassai (1), Brett Weston (1), Gyorgy Kepes (3), Beatrice Helg (4). While there was an excellent group of Kepes abstracts along the back wall, this elegant Hagemeyer floral caught my eye, fully priced at $40000.
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.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
The Checklist: 3/29/12
Checklist 3/29/12
Current New York Photography Shows
New reviews added this week in red.
(Rating: Artist/Title: Venue: Closing Date: link to review)
Uptown
ONE STAR: Cecil Beaton: Museum of the City of New York: April 22: review
ONE STAR: Leonard Freed: Museum of the City of New York: May 6: review
ONE STAR: Spies in the House of Art: Met: August 26: review
Midtown
TWO STARS: Eugène Atget: MoMA: April 9: review
ONE STAR: Peripheral Visions: Hunter College Art Galleries: April 28: review
TWO STARS: Magnum Contact Sheets: ICP: May 6: review
ONE STAR: Perspectives 2012: ICP: May 6: review
ONE STAR: Grey Villet: ICP: May 6: review
THREE STARS: Cindy Sherman: MoMA: June 11: review
THREE STARS: Weegee: ICP: September 2: review
Chelsea
ONE STAR: Olivo Barbieri: Yancey Richardson: March 31: review
ONE STAR: Mark Ruwedel: Yossi Milo: April 7: review
TWO STARS: Catherine Opie: Mitchell-Innes & Nash: April 14: review
TWO STARS: Paul Graham: Pace: April 21: review
TWO STARS: Shared Vision: Aperture: April 21: review
SoHo/Lower East Side/Downtown
No reviews at this time.
Elsewhere Nearby
No reviews at this time.
Of course, this big photography event this week is the annual AIPAD show at the Park Avenue Armory, running through Sunday. See you there!
Current New York Photography Shows
New reviews added this week in red.
(Rating: Artist/Title: Venue: Closing Date: link to review)
Uptown
ONE STAR: Cecil Beaton: Museum of the City of New York: April 22: review
ONE STAR: Leonard Freed: Museum of the City of New York: May 6: review
ONE STAR: Spies in the House of Art: Met: August 26: review
Midtown
TWO STARS: Eugène Atget: MoMA: April 9: review
ONE STAR: Peripheral Visions: Hunter College Art Galleries: April 28: review
TWO STARS: Magnum Contact Sheets: ICP: May 6: review
ONE STAR: Perspectives 2012: ICP: May 6: review
ONE STAR: Grey Villet: ICP: May 6: review
THREE STARS: Cindy Sherman: MoMA: June 11: review
THREE STARS: Weegee: ICP: September 2: review
Chelsea
ONE STAR: Olivo Barbieri: Yancey Richardson: March 31: review
ONE STAR: Mark Ruwedel: Yossi Milo: April 7: review
TWO STARS: Catherine Opie: Mitchell-Innes & Nash: April 14: review
TWO STARS: Paul Graham: Pace: April 21: review
TWO STARS: Shared Vision: Aperture: April 21: review
SoHo/Lower East Side/Downtown
No reviews at this time.
Elsewhere Nearby
No reviews at this time.
Of course, this big photography event this week is the annual AIPAD show at the Park Avenue Armory, running through Sunday. See you there!
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Shared Vision: The Sondra Gilman and Celso Gonzalez-Falla Collection of Photography @Aperture
JTF (just the facts): A total of 127 black and white and color photographs, variously framed and matted (although most are displayed in blond wood), and hung in the main gallery space, separated by two dividing walls. All of the prints come from the collection of Sondra Gilman and Celso Gonzalez-Falla. The show was curated by Ben Thompson and Paul Karabinis, in conjunction with an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville. A catalog of the collection was recently published by MOCA and Aperture (here). (Installation shots at right.)
The show is divided into thematic/subject matter groups. For each section, the photographers included have been listed, followed by the number of works on display and their dates in parentheses.
Entry
Louis Faurer (1, 1947)
Poses and Gestures
Diane Arbus (2, 1965, 1966)
EJ Bellocq (1 diptych, 1912)
Brassai (2, 1932)
Manuel Alvarez Bravo (2, 1935, 1938-1939)
Henri Cartier-Bresson (1, 1944)
Imogen Cunningham (1, 1931)
Bruce Davidson (1, 1958)
William Eggleston (1, 1972)
Walker Evans (1, 1932)
Louis Faurer (1, 1946)
Graciela Iturbide (1, 1993)
Yousuf Karsh (1, 1954)
Leon Levinstein (1, 1958)
Lisette Model (1, 1940)
Andrea Modica (1, 1992)
Cirenaica Moreira (1, 1999-2002)
Man Ray (1, 1933)
Alec Soth (1, 2002)
Paul Strand (1, 1954)
Edward Weston (1, 1921)
Garry Winogrand (1, 1968)
Minor Matters
Wynn Bullock (1, 1951)
Henri Cartier-Bresson (1, 1954)
Mario Cravo-Neto (1, 1989)
Bruce Davidson (1, 1966-1968)
Rineke Dijkstra (1, 1993)
Flor Garduno (1, 1996)
Mario Giacomelli (1, 1957-1959)
Emmet Gowin (1, 1974)
David Hilliard (1, 2005)
Peter Hujar (1, 1981)
Loretta Lux (2, 2004)
Sally Mann (4, 1987, 1989)
Mary Ellen Mark (1, 1987)
Ralph Eugene Meatyard (1, 1961)
Polixeni Papapetrou (1, 2006)
Swapan Parekh (1, 1995)
W. Eugene Smith (1, 1946)
Jock Sturges (1, 1987)
Roman Vishniac (1, 1939)
Garry Winogrand (1, 1960)
Invisible Sight
Eugene Atget (1, 1906)
Wynn Bullock (1, 1957)
Paul Caponigro (1, 1968)
Elger Esser (1, 1996)
Laura Gilpin (1, 1930)
Mark Klett (2, 1990, 2003)
Clarence John Laughlin (1, 1941)
Richard Misrach (1, 1999)
Abelardo Morell (1, 2010)
Josef Sudek (1, 1967)
Hiroshi Sugimoto (1, 1993)
Massimo Vitali (1, 1998)
Urban Exposures
Berenice Abbott (1, 1933)
Robert Adams (1, 1968-1971)
Olivo Barbieri (1, 2002)
Edward Burtynsky (1, 2004)
Henri Cartier-Bresson (1, 1953)
Bruce Davidson (1, 1959)
Robert Doisneau (1, 1948)
Walker Evans (1, 1941)
Robert Frank (2, 1956)
Lee Friedlander (1, 1962)
Andre Kertesz (2, 1948, 1954)
Ray K. Metzker (1, 1964)
Marc Riboud (1, 1953)
Alfred Stieglitz (1, 1901)
Thomas Struth (1, 1991)
Catherine Wagner (1, 1989)
Weegee (1, 1945)
Garry Winogrand (1, 1962)
The Insistent Object
Bernd and Hilla Becher (1, 1968-1973)
Harry Callahan (1, 1942)
Imogen Cunningham (1, 1957)
Harold Edgerton (2, 1957, 1960)
Mitch Epstein (1, 2000)
Adam Fuss (1, 1999)
Man Ray (1, 1931)
Aaron Siskind (1, 1944)
Frederick Sommer (1, 1939)
Hiroshi Sugimoto (1, 1980)
Edward Weston (1, 1931)
Subjective Inventions
Bianca Brunner (1, 2004)
Richard Misrach (1, 2007)
Vik Muniz (1, 1997)
Cindy Sherman (1, 1980)
Laurie Simmons (1, 1991)
Mike and Doug Starn (1, 2001-2004)
Miro Svolik (1, 1986)
Ruth Thorne-Thomsen (2, 1979, 1987)
Jerry Uelsmann (1, 1996)
Joel-Peter Witkin (2, 1982)
Francesca Woodman (1, 1977-1978)
The Form of Content
Laurent Elie Badessi (1, 1998)
Bill Brandt (2, 1951,1954)
Harry Callahan (2, 1948)
Roy DeCarava (1, 1953)
Mario Giacomelli (1, 1961-1963)
Beatrice Helg (1, 2005)
Peter Keetman (1, 1959)
Andre Kertesz (1, 1938)
Robert Mapplethorpe (2, 1983)
Andrea Modica (1, 1996)
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (1, 1939)
Andres Serrano (2, 1987, 1988)
Alfred Stieglitz (1, 1923)
Edward Weston (1, 1927)
Minor White (2, 1959, 1961)
Comments/Context: As photography collectors ourselves, my wife and I likely have more interest in other people's collections than your average gallery goer. While of course the art itself is what matters in the end, the process of making trade-offs and choices is endlessly fascinating (at least to me), and seeing how others have made their own decisions and followed their own rules and systems provides context and contrast for how we attack the same task. Our photo library has an entire shelf full of catalogues of other people's photography collections (private, corporate, and public) and each one has its own personality and flair.
One of the books that has been on our shelf for more than a decade now is a selection from Sondra Gilman's vast collection, published in the late 1990s. The book is organized into loose thematic sections, groupings that aren't strict or rigid, but allow for non-obvious juxtapositions across time period, subject matter, and stylistic approach. The edit mixes iconic images and relative unknowns with equal measure, but each image always has some hook, something special or unexpected to draw the viewer in.
The reason I am going over this background is that I think it says something very important about how Sondra Gilman and Celso Gonzalez-Falla think about photography. This current show of their collection is also thematically grouped, but the themes and ideas have changed over the past 15 years. Some of the same pictures have been included in this edit, others have been left out, to be replaced by those on the sidelines last time, or by new acquisitions. My point here is that they have not approached collecting as a monolithic checklist to be methodically completed year after year, but as something more organic and open-ended, where pictures gain new resonances as they are mixed with new neighbors. We too try to effect this kind of refreshing and renewal by rotating the pictures on our walls, but given the scale of their collection, Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla have a tremendous opportunity to continually remix their visual stimuli. My guess is that this is a constant source of interest for them, as there are always new things to discover in great photographs.
Even in this reduced selection of images, this collection rivals most museum permanent collections of photography. It is strongest in classic 20th century black and white imagery, and many will be astounded by the parade of rare vintage icons that are on display. In many cases, these are not just great images by Abbott, Kertesz, Alvarez Bravo, Cartier-Bresson, Frank, Winogrand, Weston, Siskind, White, and countless others, but these are the best known, the most well loved photographs that these masters made, all in vintage examples. While it would be easy to drift by these familiar pictures and feel like they have been seen before, the fact that they are all vintage and all in one private collection is nothing short of breathtaking.
But what I like about this exhibit is that doesn't have the aura of showing off that it could have given the strength of the material. It has opted for something more eclectic and personal, an organization that proves that these pictures aren't individual trophies, but are together as a collection a kind of living organism that is always evolving. Each new acquisition has the potential to rebalance the entire body, changing how one picture relates to another. The sections of portraits, children, landscapes, urban scenes, still lifes, staged/manipulated imagery, and formally driven images might seem predictable as themes, but mixing a Brandt nude, a White peeling paint, a Moholy-Nagy photogram, a Kertesz distortion, a Stieglitz equivalent, a Keetman raindrop screen, a Mapplethorpe nude, and a Serrano piss and blood composition (just part of the formally driven section) isn't exactly your run-of-the-mill group show. While all the pictures can easily stand alone, together they are evidence of broad curiosity and passion for the medium.
Apart from the lack of 19th century work, this single show is a close to a comprehensive history of photography as you will find outside our major museums, so don't miss the chance to see these treasures before they disappear from public view once again.
Collector's POV: Not only is this a non-selling venue, but the vintage prints in this collection would undoubtedly fetch some stratospheric prices should they ever come back into the market. So we'll forgo the usual price discussion for today, with the tangible reminder that a lifetime of collecting exceptional examples of iconic photographs can certainly generate significant value.
Rating: ** (two stars) VERY GOOD (rating system described here)
Transit Hub:
Through April 21st
Aperture Gallery
547 West 27th Street
New York, NY 10001
The show is divided into thematic/subject matter groups. For each section, the photographers included have been listed, followed by the number of works on display and their dates in parentheses.
Entry
Louis Faurer (1, 1947)
Poses and Gestures
Diane Arbus (2, 1965, 1966)
EJ Bellocq (1 diptych, 1912)
Brassai (2, 1932)
Manuel Alvarez Bravo (2, 1935, 1938-1939)
Henri Cartier-Bresson (1, 1944)
Imogen Cunningham (1, 1931)
Bruce Davidson (1, 1958)
William Eggleston (1, 1972)
Walker Evans (1, 1932)
Louis Faurer (1, 1946)
Graciela Iturbide (1, 1993)
Yousuf Karsh (1, 1954)
Leon Levinstein (1, 1958)
Lisette Model (1, 1940)
Andrea Modica (1, 1992)
Cirenaica Moreira (1, 1999-2002)
Man Ray (1, 1933)
Alec Soth (1, 2002)
Paul Strand (1, 1954)
Edward Weston (1, 1921)
Garry Winogrand (1, 1968)
Minor Matters
Wynn Bullock (1, 1951)
Henri Cartier-Bresson (1, 1954)
Mario Cravo-Neto (1, 1989)
Bruce Davidson (1, 1966-1968)
Rineke Dijkstra (1, 1993)
Flor Garduno (1, 1996)
Mario Giacomelli (1, 1957-1959)
Emmet Gowin (1, 1974)
David Hilliard (1, 2005)
Peter Hujar (1, 1981)
Loretta Lux (2, 2004)
Sally Mann (4, 1987, 1989)
Mary Ellen Mark (1, 1987)
Ralph Eugene Meatyard (1, 1961)
Polixeni Papapetrou (1, 2006)
Swapan Parekh (1, 1995)
W. Eugene Smith (1, 1946)
Jock Sturges (1, 1987)
Roman Vishniac (1, 1939)
Garry Winogrand (1, 1960)
Invisible Sight
Eugene Atget (1, 1906)
Wynn Bullock (1, 1957)
Paul Caponigro (1, 1968)
Elger Esser (1, 1996)
Laura Gilpin (1, 1930)
Mark Klett (2, 1990, 2003)
Clarence John Laughlin (1, 1941)
Richard Misrach (1, 1999)
Abelardo Morell (1, 2010)
Josef Sudek (1, 1967)
Hiroshi Sugimoto (1, 1993)
Massimo Vitali (1, 1998)
Urban Exposures
Berenice Abbott (1, 1933)
Robert Adams (1, 1968-1971)
Olivo Barbieri (1, 2002)
Edward Burtynsky (1, 2004)
Henri Cartier-Bresson (1, 1953)
Bruce Davidson (1, 1959)
Robert Doisneau (1, 1948)
Walker Evans (1, 1941)
Robert Frank (2, 1956)
Lee Friedlander (1, 1962)
Andre Kertesz (2, 1948, 1954)
Ray K. Metzker (1, 1964)
Marc Riboud (1, 1953)
Alfred Stieglitz (1, 1901)
Thomas Struth (1, 1991)
Catherine Wagner (1, 1989)
Weegee (1, 1945)
Garry Winogrand (1, 1962)
The Insistent Object
Bernd and Hilla Becher (1, 1968-1973)
Harry Callahan (1, 1942)
Imogen Cunningham (1, 1957)
Harold Edgerton (2, 1957, 1960)
Mitch Epstein (1, 2000)
Adam Fuss (1, 1999)
Man Ray (1, 1931)
Aaron Siskind (1, 1944)
Frederick Sommer (1, 1939)
Hiroshi Sugimoto (1, 1980)
Edward Weston (1, 1931)
Subjective Inventions
Bianca Brunner (1, 2004)
Richard Misrach (1, 2007)
Vik Muniz (1, 1997)
Cindy Sherman (1, 1980)
Laurie Simmons (1, 1991)
Mike and Doug Starn (1, 2001-2004)
Miro Svolik (1, 1986)
Ruth Thorne-Thomsen (2, 1979, 1987)
Jerry Uelsmann (1, 1996)
Joel-Peter Witkin (2, 1982)
Francesca Woodman (1, 1977-1978)
The Form of Content
Laurent Elie Badessi (1, 1998)
Bill Brandt (2, 1951,1954)
Harry Callahan (2, 1948)
Roy DeCarava (1, 1953)
Mario Giacomelli (1, 1961-1963)
Beatrice Helg (1, 2005)
Peter Keetman (1, 1959)
Andre Kertesz (1, 1938)
Robert Mapplethorpe (2, 1983)
Andrea Modica (1, 1996)
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (1, 1939)
Andres Serrano (2, 1987, 1988)
Alfred Stieglitz (1, 1923)
Edward Weston (1, 1927)
Minor White (2, 1959, 1961)
Comments/Context: As photography collectors ourselves, my wife and I likely have more interest in other people's collections than your average gallery goer. While of course the art itself is what matters in the end, the process of making trade-offs and choices is endlessly fascinating (at least to me), and seeing how others have made their own decisions and followed their own rules and systems provides context and contrast for how we attack the same task. Our photo library has an entire shelf full of catalogues of other people's photography collections (private, corporate, and public) and each one has its own personality and flair.
One of the books that has been on our shelf for more than a decade now is a selection from Sondra Gilman's vast collection, published in the late 1990s. The book is organized into loose thematic sections, groupings that aren't strict or rigid, but allow for non-obvious juxtapositions across time period, subject matter, and stylistic approach. The edit mixes iconic images and relative unknowns with equal measure, but each image always has some hook, something special or unexpected to draw the viewer in.
The reason I am going over this background is that I think it says something very important about how Sondra Gilman and Celso Gonzalez-Falla think about photography. This current show of their collection is also thematically grouped, but the themes and ideas have changed over the past 15 years. Some of the same pictures have been included in this edit, others have been left out, to be replaced by those on the sidelines last time, or by new acquisitions. My point here is that they have not approached collecting as a monolithic checklist to be methodically completed year after year, but as something more organic and open-ended, where pictures gain new resonances as they are mixed with new neighbors. We too try to effect this kind of refreshing and renewal by rotating the pictures on our walls, but given the scale of their collection, Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla have a tremendous opportunity to continually remix their visual stimuli. My guess is that this is a constant source of interest for them, as there are always new things to discover in great photographs.
Even in this reduced selection of images, this collection rivals most museum permanent collections of photography. It is strongest in classic 20th century black and white imagery, and many will be astounded by the parade of rare vintage icons that are on display. In many cases, these are not just great images by Abbott, Kertesz, Alvarez Bravo, Cartier-Bresson, Frank, Winogrand, Weston, Siskind, White, and countless others, but these are the best known, the most well loved photographs that these masters made, all in vintage examples. While it would be easy to drift by these familiar pictures and feel like they have been seen before, the fact that they are all vintage and all in one private collection is nothing short of breathtaking.
But what I like about this exhibit is that doesn't have the aura of showing off that it could have given the strength of the material. It has opted for something more eclectic and personal, an organization that proves that these pictures aren't individual trophies, but are together as a collection a kind of living organism that is always evolving. Each new acquisition has the potential to rebalance the entire body, changing how one picture relates to another. The sections of portraits, children, landscapes, urban scenes, still lifes, staged/manipulated imagery, and formally driven images might seem predictable as themes, but mixing a Brandt nude, a White peeling paint, a Moholy-Nagy photogram, a Kertesz distortion, a Stieglitz equivalent, a Keetman raindrop screen, a Mapplethorpe nude, and a Serrano piss and blood composition (just part of the formally driven section) isn't exactly your run-of-the-mill group show. While all the pictures can easily stand alone, together they are evidence of broad curiosity and passion for the medium.
Apart from the lack of 19th century work, this single show is a close to a comprehensive history of photography as you will find outside our major museums, so don't miss the chance to see these treasures before they disappear from public view once again.
Collector's POV: Not only is this a non-selling venue, but the vintage prints in this collection would undoubtedly fetch some stratospheric prices should they ever come back into the market. So we'll forgo the usual price discussion for today, with the tangible reminder that a lifetime of collecting exceptional examples of iconic photographs can certainly generate significant value.
Rating: ** (two stars) VERY GOOD (rating system described here)
Transit Hub:
- ARTnews Top 10 Photo Collectors (here)
Through April 21st
Aperture Gallery
547 West 27th Street
New York, NY 10001
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Catherine Opie: High School Football @Mitchell-Innes & Nash
JTF (just the facts): A total of 23 color photographs, framed in white with no mat, and hung in the entry and the large main gallery space. The works are c-prints, made between 2007 and 2009. The portraits are sized 40x30 or 30x22, and the wider game scenes are sized 48x64. No edition information was provided on the checklist. (Installation shots at right.)
.
.
Comments/Context: Catherine Opie's recent photographs of American high school football are cunningly understated and subtle. At first glance, they reminded me of the individual posed portraits taken on picture day and of the countless action shots taken by parents standing on the sidelines. They have all the trappings of the familiar, the look of pictures we have seen before, and yet upon closer inspection, there is something anthropological about her gaze, an investigation of this ritualistic behavior from a fresh vantage point.
Her posed portraits (either 3/4 or full body) capture the boys in their shoulder pads and uniforms, with sweaty faces and matted helmet hair. The players run the gamut from the swaggering and confident to the timid and gentle, a whole spectrum of male attitudes (both real and fabricated) on display. There is strength and vulnerability, toughness and defensiveness, grown up man and young boy, all mixed together in the stew of adolescence. While the settings are completely different, I saw some parallels between this work and Rineke Dijkstra's beach portraits.
Her posed portraits (either 3/4 or full body) capture the boys in their shoulder pads and uniforms, with sweaty faces and matted helmet hair. The players run the gamut from the swaggering and confident to the timid and gentle, a whole spectrum of male attitudes (both real and fabricated) on display. There is strength and vulnerability, toughness and defensiveness, grown up man and young boy, all mixed together in the stew of adolescence. While the settings are completely different, I saw some parallels between this work and Rineke Dijkstra's beach portraits.
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Opie's images of the games in progress are equally compelling and unexpected. All of the photographs are taken at ground level, with the painted lines of the green fields radiating outwards and large expanses of open air above the turf. In each case, the field is shown in the context of the surrounding land, alternately hemmed in by mountains, palm trees, towering evergreens, big sky deserts, and leafy suburban streets. Many were taken at night, when the lights were on and the skies opened up with downpours of rain. While there is of course action on the field (often small and seemingly insignificant), the pictures document the surrounding community, and the role of these games in that larger society. There is a strong sense of theater, of being out on the field in front of the whole town, of striving to prove worth or strength for all to see.
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These photographs really grew on me as I spent more time with them. As the wary parent of a middle school aged football player myself, it was as if Opie had shown me a side of my own sideline haunting that I had never really understood or internalized before. They show why the boys play, how they create and try on masculine personas for themselves, and how the community is stitched together by the support of the team. Perhaps what is most impressive here is that Opie has found so much rich and nuanced material right where most of us have routinely overlooked it, out on the playing fields of every town in America..
Collector's POV: The works in this show are priced as follows. The 40x30 portraits are $20000 each and the 30x22 portraits are $15000 each; the 48x64 scenes are $40000 each. Opie's work has started to show up in the secondary markets with more regularity in recent years. Prices have ranged between $1000 and $17000, although not many of her larger prints have come up for sale.
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Rating: ** (two stars) VERY GOOD (rating system described here).
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Transit Hub:- Reviews/Features: New Yorker (here), PhotoBooth (here), Lenscratch (here)
- Exhibit: LACMA, 2010 (here)
Through April 14th
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534 West 26th Street
New York, NY 10001
Monday, March 26, 2012
Mark Ruwedel, Records @Milo
JTF (just the facts): A total of 32 black and white works (including single images, diptychs, and groups), framed in white and matted, and hung in the front and back galleries. All of the works are gelatin silver prints, taken between 2005 and 2011. (Installation shots at right.)
The works in the show come from the following projects/series. For each, the number of images on view is followed by the print details:
Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)
Transit Hub:
The works in the show come from the following projects/series. For each, the number of images on view is followed by the print details:
- Neighbors: 3 gelatin silver diptychs, each print 11x14 mounted on archival rag board, in editions of 5+2AP, from 2008-2011
- Desert Houses: 14 gelatin silver prints, either 15x19 or 8x10, each print mounted on archival rag board, both sizes in editions of 10+2AP, from 2005-2011
- Dusk: 10 gelatin silver prints, each print 11x14 mounted on archival rag board, in editions of 5+2AP, from 2006-2011
- Built/Not Built: The Smithson Panorama: 2 sets of 8 gelatin silver prints, each print 8x10, mounted together as a single work on archival rag board, in an edition of 5+2AP, from 2010
- Records: 12 gelatin silver prints, each print 8x10 mounted on archival rag board, hung together as a single work, in an edition of 3+2AP, from 2009-2011
- 1212 Palms: 9 gelatin silver prints, each print 11x14 mounted on archival rag board, hung together as a single work, in an edition of 5+2AP, from 2006-2007
- Bomb Craters: 9 gelatin silver prints, each print 10x13 mounted on archival rag board, hung together as a single work, in an edition of 5+2AP, from 2008
- Splitting: 1 gelatin silver diptych, each print 11x14 mounted on archival rag board, in editions of 5+2AP, from 2009
Comments/Context: Mark Ruwedel's photographs provide an answer to one of the most complicated questions facing contemporary American land (not necessarily landscape) photography: how do we thoughtfully engage photographic history? His last major project, Westward the Course of Empire, documented the path of the railway system, in conceptual dialogue with 19th century greats like Watkins, O'Sullivan, and others. His newest pictures take on the sprawling beast of the New Topographics. The problem of how to move forward visually and conceptually given the lasting influence of this stylistic juggernaut isn't by any means a simple one. Walking too close to the past generates work that is either plainly derivative ("stuck in the 70s") or calmly reverential. What I like best about Ruwedel's new pictures is that they aren't afraid of this history. Instead, each project or series is like a crisp, cerebral, insider conversation, referencing bodies of work that have come before (including various strains of conceptual art as well as Land/Earth Art) but asking new questions and providing contemporary answers.
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A walk through the broader and taller galleries at Yossi Milo's new space is like a series of call and response discussions. Free standing houses alone in the desert (both in daylight and at dusk, taken with deadpan quiet formality) connect to any number of predecessors: John Divola, Robert Adams, and once again the Bechers. Other projects are more one-to-one: palm trees with Ed Rusha, split houses with Gordon Matta-Clark, warped vinyl LPs in the desert dirt with Lewis Baltz, and elegant salt encrusted bomb craters with scientific photography from the Manhattan Project. His investigation of Robert Smithson inverts The Spiral Jetty into a 360 degree panoramic view outward, and considers another location where a Smithson work was never built. Each series reprises characteristic motifs and styles, but unpacks them and pares them down further. The underlying ideas about land use, the built environment, reuse and waste, visual patterning and repetition, are all a continuation of the original concepts, but an extension and refinement rather than a hackneyed copy.
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In a world where the typology format has spread like a disease, I came away impressed that these pictures didn't seem tired. Most of the subjects here are decayed, abandoned, falling down, or hollowed out, but there is an elemental beauty to the shapes and geometries, the mirror images and echoes; roof lines, wood framing, blackened windows and flat expanses of scrubby desert provide plenty of raw material for theme and variation exercises and tonal gradation. But my main takeaway was that Ruwedel has absorbed the lessons of the relevant photographic past, but not let them prevent him from carefully and critically thinking about those ideas further. Mindful of the many traps, he seems to have avoided them, and in the process, expanded the conversation.
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Collector's POV: The prints in this show are priced based as follows, based on the project/series. - Neighbors: $7500 each
- Desert Houses: $4500 or $2500, based on size
- Dusk: $6500 or $4500
- Built/Not Built: The Smithson Panorama: $20000
- Records: $25000
- 1212 Palms: $22000
- Bomb Craters: $18000
- Splitting: $9000
Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)
Transit Hub:
Through April 7th
.
245 Tenth Avenue
New York, NY 10001
Thursday, March 15, 2012
The Checklist: 3/15/12
Checklist 3/15/12
Current New York Photography Shows
New reviews added this week in red.
(Rating: Artist/Title: Venue: Closing Date: link to review)
Uptown
THREE STARS: The Radical Camera: New York's Photo League: Jewish Museum: March 25: review
ONE STAR: Cecil Beaton: Museum of the City of New York: April 22: review
ONE STAR: Leonard Freed: Museum of the City of New York: May 6: review
ONE STAR: Spies in the House of Art: Met: August 26: review
Midtown
ONE STAR: New York in Color: Howard Greenberg: March 17: review
TWO STARS: Reinstalled Permanent Collection: MoMA: March 28: review
TWO STARS: Eugène Atget: MoMA: April 9: review
ONE STAR: Peripheral Visions: Hunter College Art Galleries: April 28: review
TWO STARS: Magnum Contact Sheets: ICP: May 6: review
ONE STAR: Perspectives 2012: ICP: May 6: review
ONE STAR: Grey Villet: ICP: May 6: review
THREE STARS: Cindy Sherman: MoMA: June 11: review
THREE STARS: Weegee: ICP: September 2: review
Chelsea
ONE STAR: Yinka Shonibare: James Cohan: March 24: review
ONE STAR: Melanie Willhide: Von Lintel: March 24: review
ONE STAR: Olivo Barbieri: Yancey Richardson: March 31: review
TWO STARS: Paul Graham: Pace: April 21: review
SoHo/Lower East Side/Downtown
TWO STARS: Jan Groover: Janet Borden: March 17: review
ONE STAR: Juergen Teller: Lehmann Maupin: March 17: review
Elsewhere Nearby
No reviews at this time.
Administrative Note: Spring break is upon us. There will be no posts tomorrow or next week. Regular posting will resume the following Monday, March 26. Opie, Ruwedel, Shared Vision (at Aperture) and of course AIPAD coming upon my return.
Current New York Photography Shows
New reviews added this week in red.
(Rating: Artist/Title: Venue: Closing Date: link to review)
Uptown
THREE STARS: The Radical Camera: New York's Photo League: Jewish Museum: March 25: review
ONE STAR: Cecil Beaton: Museum of the City of New York: April 22: review
ONE STAR: Leonard Freed: Museum of the City of New York: May 6: review
ONE STAR: Spies in the House of Art: Met: August 26: review
Midtown
ONE STAR: New York in Color: Howard Greenberg: March 17: review
TWO STARS: Reinstalled Permanent Collection: MoMA: March 28: review
TWO STARS: Eugène Atget: MoMA: April 9: review
ONE STAR: Peripheral Visions: Hunter College Art Galleries: April 28: review
TWO STARS: Magnum Contact Sheets: ICP: May 6: review
ONE STAR: Perspectives 2012: ICP: May 6: review
ONE STAR: Grey Villet: ICP: May 6: review
THREE STARS: Cindy Sherman: MoMA: June 11: review
THREE STARS: Weegee: ICP: September 2: review
Chelsea
ONE STAR: Yinka Shonibare: James Cohan: March 24: review
ONE STAR: Melanie Willhide: Von Lintel: March 24: review
ONE STAR: Olivo Barbieri: Yancey Richardson: March 31: review
TWO STARS: Paul Graham: Pace: April 21: review
SoHo/Lower East Side/Downtown
TWO STARS: Jan Groover: Janet Borden: March 17: review
ONE STAR: Juergen Teller: Lehmann Maupin: March 17: review
Elsewhere Nearby
No reviews at this time.
Administrative Note: Spring break is upon us. There will be no posts tomorrow or next week. Regular posting will resume the following Monday, March 26. Opie, Ruwedel, Shared Vision (at Aperture) and of course AIPAD coming upon my return.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Photography at the 2012 Armory Show
In previous years, my review of the photography at the Armory Show has required a handful of posts, breaking the fair up into smaller, more easily digestible chunks, since there was so much to write about. This year, I have collapsed all of the data into one single mega-post, the entire experience boiled down to something you can read in a few minutes. The reason I have chosen this approach is that for the first time in my many years of attending this fair, I was generally underwhelmed by what I saw on offer.
Taking pot shots at art fairs is far too easy to be any fun, and I have long been one of the few hold outs who actually enjoys the process of wandering through the bazaar, poking my head into booth after booth in search of something exciting hiding on an interior side wall. Perhaps it is because I already see so much here in New York that I felt that a spark was somehow missing this time; I bounced along the hallways, dutifully making my notes, but mostly nodding my head and moving along rather than digging in to engage the gallery owners. The fact that I could systematically cover the entire fair (both Piers) in just under two and half hours is proof that I didn't stop much to inquire more. I would hate to feel like I'd seen it all before, but that was certainly part of my reaction this year.
The second part of my conclusion was that I saw much more clearly a focus on what was sellable. For many of the non-photography specialist venues, I think the mantra was, when in doubt, put up a Cindy Sherman. From an economic standpoint, this makes complete sense - cover the walls of your booth with art that will sell (and sell for high prices) to ensure that you cover your costs of renting the space and doing all the work the fair entails; hopefully you'll sell a few pieces, meet some new collectors/clients, and come out ahead. The challenge is that if every gallery operates in this same manner, the fair takes on a quality of sameness that becomes dull. The richness of a fair comes in its diversity and risk taking, which is potentially at odds with maximizing profits. As I traveled the crowded halls, I felt the pressure of this commercial push and pull much more acutely than I had before. Of course, none of this is news, I just noticed it more than usual this year.
In any case, my notes from the fair are below, grouped by Pier and arranged by my path through the halls. For each booth, a list of photographers has been provided, with the number of works on display in parentheses. Additional commentary, prices, and pictures of the installation are also included as appropriate.
Pier 94
Galerie Anhava (here): Hreinn Fridfinnsson (1 set of 6)
NoPlace (here): Ingvild Langgård (1), Kjetil Berge (2), Kristine Jakobsen (2), Tommy Høvik
(3)
Galleri Christian Torp (here): Marianne Hurum (1)
V1 Gallery (here): Peter Funch (1 triptych)
Christian Larsen Gallery (here): Charlotte Gyllenhammer (1), Joakim Eneroth (1). I liked the crisp abstract geometries of this series of red Swedish buildings by Eneroth. A monograph of the work is being published by Steidl. The print was priced at $10000.
Gallery Niklas Belenius (here): Leif Elggren (1 set of 18), Miriam Bäckström (2). There were two of these circular portraits by Bäckström in this booth. I was told the subjects are famous theater actors, but what I found intriguing was the heavy mirrored framing, tinted to match the photograph. The works were priced at $40000 each.
ELASTIC (here): Per Mårtensson (1 set of 8), Maria Hedlund (1 triptych, 1)
CRYSTAL (here): Julia Peirone (1 triptych, 1)
Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder (here): James Welling (1)
Galerie Nathalie Obadia (here): Youssef Nabil (1 diptych)
Whitechapel Gallery (here): Susan Hiller (1), Richard Wentworth (1), Paul Graham (1), Thomas Struth (1), Zarina Bhimji (1), Franz West (1), John Baldessari (1)
Richard Heller Gallery (here): Corey Arnold (4)
Howard Greenberg Gallery (here): Saul Leiter (6, plus 6 gouaches), Aaron Siskind (9), Charles Jones (4), Edward Burtynsky (1 diptych, 1), Vivian Maier (6), Weegee (5), Bruce Davidson (3), Robert Mapplethorpe (1), William Klein (1). I continue to enjoy Leiter's color work, and a grid of Siskind divers is always a high contrast visual statement.
Cardi Black Box (here): Shirana Shahbazi (1 diptych). I have been hearing more about this Iranian photographer's work lately, but haven't actually seen much of it in person. This diptych was priced at 25000€.
Upstream Gallery (here): Jeroen Jongeleen (1)
Bruce Silverstein Gallery (here): Shinichi Maruyama (3), Andre Kertesz (grid of 20, 1), Trine Sondergaard (2), Silvio Wolf (1), John Wood (1), Frederick Sommer (1 collage), Edward Weston (1), Constantin Brancusi (1), Robert Frank (1), Michael Wolf (1), Aaron Siskind (grid of 36), Todd Hido (2), Keith Smith (1 book), Zoe Strauss (grid of 12). There were several strong grids of work in this booth: the Kertesz distortions, the Siskind rock walls, and the Strauss color images on the outside wall.
Yossi Milo Gallery (here): Tim Hetherington (3), Matthew Brandt (1), Alison Rossiter (4 diptychs, 1), Simen Johan (1), Chris McCaw (1 diptych, 1), Sze Tsung Leong (1), Pieter Hugo (2)
Angles Gallery (here): Soo Kim (2), Ori Gersht (1 diptych), Augusta Wood (1), Judy Fiskin (2)
Frederic Snitzer Gallery (here): Kehinde Wiley (1), Sean Dack (1)
Galeria Senda (here): Ola Kolehmainen (1)
Galerie Crone (here): Rosemarie Trockel (2), Adrien Missika (4)
Michael Kohn Gallery (here): Simmons & Burke (5)
Rhona Hoffman Gallery (here): Robert Heinecken (1 triptych, 1 set of 6), Luis Gispert (1)
Galerie Parisa Kind (here): Mike Bouchet (1)
Peter Blum Gallery (here): Su-Mei Tse (1), John Beech (2)
Sprüth Magers (here): Louise Lawler (1), Cindy Sherman (3), Peter Fischli and David Weiss (3), Andreas Gursky (1), Barbara Kruger (1). I thought these perilously staged sculptural images by Fischli/Weiss were the best thing I saw at the fair. They were priced at 55000€ each.
Galleria Continua (here): Shilpa Gupta (1)
Mai 36 Galerie (here): John Baldessari (1 triptych, 1 diptych), Lugi Ghirri (1), Thomas Ruff (1), Robert Mapplethorpe (2). Hard to beat a monumental Ruff head shot portrait for being eye-catching and imposing.
Corvi-Mora (here): Anne Collier (1)
Kukje Gallery (here): Candida Höfer (1), Yeondoo Jung (1)
Corkin Gallery (here): Barbara Astman (1 group of 6, 6), Brett Weston (1), Marjorie Content (1), Berenice Abbott (1), Garry Winogrand (2), Robert Frank (1), Margaret Bourke-White (1), Herbert Bayer (1), Walker Evans (1), George Platt Lynes (2), Andre Kertesz (1), Guy Bourdin (1), Francesco Scavullo (3), Thaddeus Holownia (16), Frank Madler (4), Ian Baxter (1)
Galeria Filomena Soares (here): Joao Penalva (1), Carlos Motta (21), Helena Almeida (1), Vasco Araujo (1)
Dirimart (here): O Zhang (1)
Kalfayan Galleries (here): Hrair Sarkissian (3), Breda Beban (3)
Ai Kowada Gallery (here): Hiroshi Sugimoto (3)
moniquemeloche (here): Aaron Siskind (2), Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (1)
BISCHOFF/WEISS (here): Michael Reisch (3)
Ratio 3 (here): Geof Oppenheimer (3), Matthew Hale (1)
Cherry and Martin (here): Robert Heinecken (1 triptych, 1 set of 5), Amanda Ross-Ho (1)
Jack Shainman Gallery (here): Hank Willis Thomas (1), Gauri Gill (1)
González y González (here): Patrick Hamilton (3), Jota Castro (2)
Carolina Nitsch (here): Cindy Sherman (1), EV Day (1), Carsten Holler (5), Vera Lutter (1)
Galeria Nara Roesler (here): Lucia Koch (2), Marcos Chaves (1)
Galerie Georg Kargl (here): Cindy Sherman (1)
Galerie Bob van Orsouw (here): Nobuyoshi Araki (16), Shirana Shahbazi (2). This wall of Araki images from the 1960s/1970s was looser and less staged than his later, more recognizable work.
Lisson Gallery (here): James Casebere (1), Gerald Byre (1 set of 16), Tim Lee (1)
Max Wigram Gallery (here): Mustafa Hulusi (2)
Ingleby Gallery (here): Peter Liversidge (1), Garry Fabian Miller (1)
Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery (here): Pertti Kekarainen (2), Ola Kolehmainen (4), Jorma Puranen (4), Susanna Majuri (2), Niko Luoma (4)
Other Criteria (here): Polly Borland (2)
Parkett Publishers (here): Zoe Leonard (1), Tracy Emin (1)
Mary Ryan Gallery (here): Sangbin Im (1 dipytch, 1)
Poligrafa Obra Grafica (here): Tony Oursler (1)
Galerie Anne de Villepoix (here): Sam Samore (1)
Kavi Gupta (here): Roe Ethridge (3)
Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art (here): Andres Serrano (13). An entire booth of bold silhouetted toys and action figures, derivative of David Levinthal I thought.
Andréhn-Schiptjenko (here): Matts Leiderstam (14)
Victoria Miro (here): William Eggleston (1), Stan Douglas (1), Issac Julien (1), Francesca Woodman (3), Alex Hartley (1 diptych), Doug Aitken (1 lightbox)
Sean Kelly Gallery (here): James Casebere (2), Frank Thiel (1), Idris Khan (3), Robert Mapplethorpe (2), Alec Soth (3). These new images of London landmarks by Khan seem less ridigly conceptual than his earlier works, while still employing the ghostly multiple overlayed exposure technique. This print was priced at £35000. The Soth images were from his series of goth girls.
Leo Koenig Inc. (here): Gerhard Richter (3), Sigmar Polke (1)
Mendes Wood (here): Paolo Nazareth (7)
ONE AND J. Gallery (here): Kang Hong-Goo (6, 1 triptych, 1 wall installation)
On Stellar Rays (here): Clifford Owens (1 wall installation)
Henrique Faria Fine Art (here): Marta Minujin (6), Alessandro Balteo Yazbeck (1), Pedro Teran (2), Anna Bella Geiger (1 set of 18)
Galerie Forsblom (here): Chen Jiagang (1), Ola Kolehmainen (1). I haven't seen images by Chen this large before; it appeared to be in three integrated panels. The work was priced at $60000.
Luciana Brito Galeria (here): Caio Reisewitz (1)
Galerie Daniel Templon (here): James Casebere (1)
BLAIN/SOUTHERN (here): Mat Collinshaw (1), Wim Wenders (4)
Marianne Boesky Gallery (here): Anthony Pearson (5)
Baro Galleria (here): Claudia Jaguaribe (2)
Pier 92
Vivian Horan Fine Art (here): Cindy Sherman (2), John Baldessari (1), Elger Esser (1)
Springer & Winckler Galerie (here): Hiroshi Sugimoto (1), Arnold Odermatt (3 color, 6 black and white), Georges Rousse (1), Andy Goldsworthy (1), Bernd and Hilla Becher (1 set of 4). I think these black and white Odermatt car crashes are wonderfully formal; while I've seen many of them before, they continue to grow on me. They were priced between $4000 and $8000 each.
Galerie Thomas (here): Thomas Struth (1)
Galerie Sho Contemporary Art (here): Helmut Newton (1)
Wetterling Gallery (here): Nathalia Edenmont (2), Mike and Doug Starn (2)
HackelBury Fine Art (here): Garry Fabian Miller (4, 1 set of 11), Mike and Doug Starn (5)
Senior & Shopmaker Gallery (here): Jan Dibbets (1), Richard Long (1)
Mireille Mosler Ltd. (here): Ed Van Der Elsken (1), Philip-Lorca diCorcia (1), Cindy Sherman (8), William Wegman (1 diptych). I really enjoy the clever absurdity of Wegman's early 1970s conceptual work. This work is entitled Which Tube Attracts the Dog?; Wegman holds a tiny tube on the left and a massive one on the right. The dog's head peeks in from the left in the right panel. The work was priced at $30000.
Marc Selwyn Fine Art (here): Robert Heinecken (3), Matt Lipps (1), Richard Misrach (1)
Alan Koppel Gallery (here): Walker Evans (1), August Sander (1), Hiroshi Sugimoto (4), Diane Arbus (1), Yves Klein (1). For our particular collection, this tiny Walker Evans was the best fit at the fair. I have always coveted the few images from this series of train tracks he did in the late 1920s, and this is one of the best I've seen. It was priced at $20000.
James Barron Art (here): Luigi Ghirri (3)
Chowaiki & Co. (here): Marilyn Minter (2), Cindy Sherman (1), Gregory Crewdson (1), Nobuyoshi Araki (1 diptych), Shirin Nehsat (1)
Gerald Peters Gallery (here): Alfred Steiglitz (2), J. Henry Fair (2), Craig Varjabedlan (3). The two O'Keeffe nudes by Stielglitz were on a side wall.
Robert Klein Gallery (here): Francesca Woodman (7), Mario Giacomelli (4), Edward Burtynsky (1), Irving Penn (10), Bill Jacobsen (3)
Yancey Richardson Gallery (here): Jitka Hanzlova (6), Andrew Moore (1), Sharon Core (5), Rachel Perry Welty (2), Bryan Graf (3), Olivo Barbieri (1), Sebastiao Salgado (1), Victoria Samburnaris (1), Bernd and Hilla Becher (1 set of 9), Kenneth Josephson (1)
Ricco Maresca Gallery (here): Tim Freccia (4)
Carl Hammer Gallery (here): Blythe Bohnen (3)
Taking pot shots at art fairs is far too easy to be any fun, and I have long been one of the few hold outs who actually enjoys the process of wandering through the bazaar, poking my head into booth after booth in search of something exciting hiding on an interior side wall. Perhaps it is because I already see so much here in New York that I felt that a spark was somehow missing this time; I bounced along the hallways, dutifully making my notes, but mostly nodding my head and moving along rather than digging in to engage the gallery owners. The fact that I could systematically cover the entire fair (both Piers) in just under two and half hours is proof that I didn't stop much to inquire more. I would hate to feel like I'd seen it all before, but that was certainly part of my reaction this year.
The second part of my conclusion was that I saw much more clearly a focus on what was sellable. For many of the non-photography specialist venues, I think the mantra was, when in doubt, put up a Cindy Sherman. From an economic standpoint, this makes complete sense - cover the walls of your booth with art that will sell (and sell for high prices) to ensure that you cover your costs of renting the space and doing all the work the fair entails; hopefully you'll sell a few pieces, meet some new collectors/clients, and come out ahead. The challenge is that if every gallery operates in this same manner, the fair takes on a quality of sameness that becomes dull. The richness of a fair comes in its diversity and risk taking, which is potentially at odds with maximizing profits. As I traveled the crowded halls, I felt the pressure of this commercial push and pull much more acutely than I had before. Of course, none of this is news, I just noticed it more than usual this year.
In any case, my notes from the fair are below, grouped by Pier and arranged by my path through the halls. For each booth, a list of photographers has been provided, with the number of works on display in parentheses. Additional commentary, prices, and pictures of the installation are also included as appropriate.
Pier 94
Galerie Anhava (here): Hreinn Fridfinnsson (1 set of 6)
NoPlace (here): Ingvild Langgård (1), Kjetil Berge (2), Kristine Jakobsen (2), Tommy Høvik
(3)
Galleri Christian Torp (here): Marianne Hurum (1)
V1 Gallery (here): Peter Funch (1 triptych)
Christian Larsen Gallery (here): Charlotte Gyllenhammer (1), Joakim Eneroth (1). I liked the crisp abstract geometries of this series of red Swedish buildings by Eneroth. A monograph of the work is being published by Steidl. The print was priced at $10000.
Gallery Niklas Belenius (here): Leif Elggren (1 set of 18), Miriam Bäckström (2). There were two of these circular portraits by Bäckström in this booth. I was told the subjects are famous theater actors, but what I found intriguing was the heavy mirrored framing, tinted to match the photograph. The works were priced at $40000 each.
ELASTIC (here): Per Mårtensson (1 set of 8), Maria Hedlund (1 triptych, 1)
CRYSTAL (here): Julia Peirone (1 triptych, 1)
Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder (here): James Welling (1)
Galerie Nathalie Obadia (here): Youssef Nabil (1 diptych)
Whitechapel Gallery (here): Susan Hiller (1), Richard Wentworth (1), Paul Graham (1), Thomas Struth (1), Zarina Bhimji (1), Franz West (1), John Baldessari (1)
Richard Heller Gallery (here): Corey Arnold (4)
Howard Greenberg Gallery (here): Saul Leiter (6, plus 6 gouaches), Aaron Siskind (9), Charles Jones (4), Edward Burtynsky (1 diptych, 1), Vivian Maier (6), Weegee (5), Bruce Davidson (3), Robert Mapplethorpe (1), William Klein (1). I continue to enjoy Leiter's color work, and a grid of Siskind divers is always a high contrast visual statement.
Cardi Black Box (here): Shirana Shahbazi (1 diptych). I have been hearing more about this Iranian photographer's work lately, but haven't actually seen much of it in person. This diptych was priced at 25000€.
Upstream Gallery (here): Jeroen Jongeleen (1)
Bruce Silverstein Gallery (here): Shinichi Maruyama (3), Andre Kertesz (grid of 20, 1), Trine Sondergaard (2), Silvio Wolf (1), John Wood (1), Frederick Sommer (1 collage), Edward Weston (1), Constantin Brancusi (1), Robert Frank (1), Michael Wolf (1), Aaron Siskind (grid of 36), Todd Hido (2), Keith Smith (1 book), Zoe Strauss (grid of 12). There were several strong grids of work in this booth: the Kertesz distortions, the Siskind rock walls, and the Strauss color images on the outside wall.
Yossi Milo Gallery (here): Tim Hetherington (3), Matthew Brandt (1), Alison Rossiter (4 diptychs, 1), Simen Johan (1), Chris McCaw (1 diptych, 1), Sze Tsung Leong (1), Pieter Hugo (2)
Angles Gallery (here): Soo Kim (2), Ori Gersht (1 diptych), Augusta Wood (1), Judy Fiskin (2)
Frederic Snitzer Gallery (here): Kehinde Wiley (1), Sean Dack (1)
Galeria Senda (here): Ola Kolehmainen (1)
Galerie Crone (here): Rosemarie Trockel (2), Adrien Missika (4)
Michael Kohn Gallery (here): Simmons & Burke (5)
Rhona Hoffman Gallery (here): Robert Heinecken (1 triptych, 1 set of 6), Luis Gispert (1)
Galerie Parisa Kind (here): Mike Bouchet (1)
Peter Blum Gallery (here): Su-Mei Tse (1), John Beech (2)
Sprüth Magers (here): Louise Lawler (1), Cindy Sherman (3), Peter Fischli and David Weiss (3), Andreas Gursky (1), Barbara Kruger (1). I thought these perilously staged sculptural images by Fischli/Weiss were the best thing I saw at the fair. They were priced at 55000€ each.
Galleria Continua (here): Shilpa Gupta (1)
Mai 36 Galerie (here): John Baldessari (1 triptych, 1 diptych), Lugi Ghirri (1), Thomas Ruff (1), Robert Mapplethorpe (2). Hard to beat a monumental Ruff head shot portrait for being eye-catching and imposing.
Corvi-Mora (here): Anne Collier (1)
Kukje Gallery (here): Candida Höfer (1), Yeondoo Jung (1)
Corkin Gallery (here): Barbara Astman (1 group of 6, 6), Brett Weston (1), Marjorie Content (1), Berenice Abbott (1), Garry Winogrand (2), Robert Frank (1), Margaret Bourke-White (1), Herbert Bayer (1), Walker Evans (1), George Platt Lynes (2), Andre Kertesz (1), Guy Bourdin (1), Francesco Scavullo (3), Thaddeus Holownia (16), Frank Madler (4), Ian Baxter (1)
Galeria Filomena Soares (here): Joao Penalva (1), Carlos Motta (21), Helena Almeida (1), Vasco Araujo (1)
Dirimart (here): O Zhang (1)
Kalfayan Galleries (here): Hrair Sarkissian (3), Breda Beban (3)
Ai Kowada Gallery (here): Hiroshi Sugimoto (3)
moniquemeloche (here): Aaron Siskind (2), Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (1)
BISCHOFF/WEISS (here): Michael Reisch (3)
Ratio 3 (here): Geof Oppenheimer (3), Matthew Hale (1)
Cherry and Martin (here): Robert Heinecken (1 triptych, 1 set of 5), Amanda Ross-Ho (1)
Jack Shainman Gallery (here): Hank Willis Thomas (1), Gauri Gill (1)
González y González (here): Patrick Hamilton (3), Jota Castro (2)
Carolina Nitsch (here): Cindy Sherman (1), EV Day (1), Carsten Holler (5), Vera Lutter (1)
Galeria Nara Roesler (here): Lucia Koch (2), Marcos Chaves (1)
Galerie Georg Kargl (here): Cindy Sherman (1)
Galerie Bob van Orsouw (here): Nobuyoshi Araki (16), Shirana Shahbazi (2). This wall of Araki images from the 1960s/1970s was looser and less staged than his later, more recognizable work.
Lisson Gallery (here): James Casebere (1), Gerald Byre (1 set of 16), Tim Lee (1)
Max Wigram Gallery (here): Mustafa Hulusi (2)
Ingleby Gallery (here): Peter Liversidge (1), Garry Fabian Miller (1)
Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery (here): Pertti Kekarainen (2), Ola Kolehmainen (4), Jorma Puranen (4), Susanna Majuri (2), Niko Luoma (4)
Other Criteria (here): Polly Borland (2)
Parkett Publishers (here): Zoe Leonard (1), Tracy Emin (1)
Mary Ryan Gallery (here): Sangbin Im (1 dipytch, 1)
Poligrafa Obra Grafica (here): Tony Oursler (1)
Galerie Anne de Villepoix (here): Sam Samore (1)
Kavi Gupta (here): Roe Ethridge (3)
Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art (here): Andres Serrano (13). An entire booth of bold silhouetted toys and action figures, derivative of David Levinthal I thought.
Andréhn-Schiptjenko (here): Matts Leiderstam (14)
Victoria Miro (here): William Eggleston (1), Stan Douglas (1), Issac Julien (1), Francesca Woodman (3), Alex Hartley (1 diptych), Doug Aitken (1 lightbox)
Sean Kelly Gallery (here): James Casebere (2), Frank Thiel (1), Idris Khan (3), Robert Mapplethorpe (2), Alec Soth (3). These new images of London landmarks by Khan seem less ridigly conceptual than his earlier works, while still employing the ghostly multiple overlayed exposure technique. This print was priced at £35000. The Soth images were from his series of goth girls.
Leo Koenig Inc. (here): Gerhard Richter (3), Sigmar Polke (1)
Mendes Wood (here): Paolo Nazareth (7)
ONE AND J. Gallery (here): Kang Hong-Goo (6, 1 triptych, 1 wall installation)
On Stellar Rays (here): Clifford Owens (1 wall installation)
Henrique Faria Fine Art (here): Marta Minujin (6), Alessandro Balteo Yazbeck (1), Pedro Teran (2), Anna Bella Geiger (1 set of 18)
Galerie Forsblom (here): Chen Jiagang (1), Ola Kolehmainen (1). I haven't seen images by Chen this large before; it appeared to be in three integrated panels. The work was priced at $60000.
Luciana Brito Galeria (here): Caio Reisewitz (1)
Galerie Daniel Templon (here): James Casebere (1)
BLAIN/SOUTHERN (here): Mat Collinshaw (1), Wim Wenders (4)
Marianne Boesky Gallery (here): Anthony Pearson (5)
Baro Galleria (here): Claudia Jaguaribe (2)
Pier 92
Vivian Horan Fine Art (here): Cindy Sherman (2), John Baldessari (1), Elger Esser (1)
Springer & Winckler Galerie (here): Hiroshi Sugimoto (1), Arnold Odermatt (3 color, 6 black and white), Georges Rousse (1), Andy Goldsworthy (1), Bernd and Hilla Becher (1 set of 4). I think these black and white Odermatt car crashes are wonderfully formal; while I've seen many of them before, they continue to grow on me. They were priced between $4000 and $8000 each.
Galerie Thomas (here): Thomas Struth (1)
Galerie Sho Contemporary Art (here): Helmut Newton (1)
Wetterling Gallery (here): Nathalia Edenmont (2), Mike and Doug Starn (2)
HackelBury Fine Art (here): Garry Fabian Miller (4, 1 set of 11), Mike and Doug Starn (5)
Senior & Shopmaker Gallery (here): Jan Dibbets (1), Richard Long (1)
Mireille Mosler Ltd. (here): Ed Van Der Elsken (1), Philip-Lorca diCorcia (1), Cindy Sherman (8), William Wegman (1 diptych). I really enjoy the clever absurdity of Wegman's early 1970s conceptual work. This work is entitled Which Tube Attracts the Dog?; Wegman holds a tiny tube on the left and a massive one on the right. The dog's head peeks in from the left in the right panel. The work was priced at $30000.
Marc Selwyn Fine Art (here): Robert Heinecken (3), Matt Lipps (1), Richard Misrach (1)
Alan Koppel Gallery (here): Walker Evans (1), August Sander (1), Hiroshi Sugimoto (4), Diane Arbus (1), Yves Klein (1). For our particular collection, this tiny Walker Evans was the best fit at the fair. I have always coveted the few images from this series of train tracks he did in the late 1920s, and this is one of the best I've seen. It was priced at $20000.
James Barron Art (here): Luigi Ghirri (3)
Chowaiki & Co. (here): Marilyn Minter (2), Cindy Sherman (1), Gregory Crewdson (1), Nobuyoshi Araki (1 diptych), Shirin Nehsat (1)
Gerald Peters Gallery (here): Alfred Steiglitz (2), J. Henry Fair (2), Craig Varjabedlan (3). The two O'Keeffe nudes by Stielglitz were on a side wall.
Robert Klein Gallery (here): Francesca Woodman (7), Mario Giacomelli (4), Edward Burtynsky (1), Irving Penn (10), Bill Jacobsen (3)
Yancey Richardson Gallery (here): Jitka Hanzlova (6), Andrew Moore (1), Sharon Core (5), Rachel Perry Welty (2), Bryan Graf (3), Olivo Barbieri (1), Sebastiao Salgado (1), Victoria Samburnaris (1), Bernd and Hilla Becher (1 set of 9), Kenneth Josephson (1)
Ricco Maresca Gallery (here): Tim Freccia (4)
Carl Hammer Gallery (here): Blythe Bohnen (3)