AIPAD The Photography Show 2025. Andy Romer Photography 2025

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.

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“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........

© Observer