My favorites at the AIPAD Photography Show
More than 75 of the world’s leading fine art photography galleries presented a wide range of museum quality work by contemporary, modern and 19th century masters at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City, the 28th edition of the AIPAD the longest running and foremost exhibition of fine art photography.
As photographer afficionado and a traditionally minded collector I spent the whole weekend at the elegant exhibition appreciating the thousands of pictures representing nearly the full range of the history of photography and like in a game, I created a contest in my mind and selected my favorites according to my own personal history and taste.
Most galleries displayed miscellaneous selections from their inventories, the show random diversity could have been exhausting for the casual visitor as the many different genres on vie making , including fashion photography and photojournalism, as well as fine art with a lot of repetitions could blurry one’s vision quite a bit.
But at the contrary for me selecting a group of photos of my choice, organize them on a visual space, my blog, and from them trace the course of my emotional life, cultural and ethnic identity, has been all together an exiting and certainly a sort of transcendental experience.
The first picture that captured my attention was a Latin American vintage gelatin silver print by Graciela Itubide, Our lady of the iguanas / Nuestra senora de las iguanas 1979, depicting a fierce but graceful lady who wears a head dress of live iguanas , artist Flor Garduno Embrace of light / Abrazo de luz 2000, a gelatin silver print of the body of a naked woman embracing a bouquet of large Mexican white Alcatraz flowers.
A stunning Nickolas Muray Frida Kahlo on Bench shoot for a 1938 Vogue cover titled by the artist’s daughter, Mimi Muray and Fritz Henle’ s Portrait of Nieves 1943 are all from the collection of Throckmorton Fine Art Gallery who specializes in fine art and photography from Latin America.
By looking at those magnificent pictures I realize slowly, that having lived in South America for so long has changed tremendously the way I witness the world with the eye of an observer thorough the camera lens. Latin America photojournalism has brought my conscience to a much harsher reality of life, so different from the romanticism of the European scene, my background of origin.
Browsing around the booths whose walls are filled with pictures of all kind, I scan unconsciously each and everyone one with the eyes of a lyncs, searching for something still I don’t know yet, when suddenly I am confronted with two of Irving Penn works: A feel I must pause for another introspective insight.
Christian Lacroix Corset, Paris 1995 a third edition of five platinum palladium prints definitely among the first ones in my list, its verso annotated with stamps and pencil, immediately reveals the cognitive association with the gypsy- ness of my style and life being a Sephardi Jew of origin. Lacroix himself the designer, is from the region of Arles!
The second is better even more true to me: The Tarot Reader (Jean Patchett & Bridget Tichenor), New York, 1949/1984 a silver print toned in selenium mounted to Strathmore paper, one of a selection of 26. I could not more attracted by the combination of esoterism from the Tarot readings and that touch of natural spontaneity when elegance is at glance. Both are available for purchase at Robert Klein Gallery.
Irving Penn tended to set his fashion models against a slightly mottled expanse of fabric, which he replicated when seeking their ethnographic equivalents in other cultures.The common thread connecting his razor-thin models with his images of Peruvian peasants, New Guinea tribesmen and Moroccan women is that they all portray amazing-looking people in carefully crafted and coded, sometimes bizarre get-ups, whether haute couture gowns, Andean ponchos, or masks, shells and slathered mud.
Cuzco Mother with sleeping child belonging to the Platinum series is maybe my top choice, the principle of motherhood universally beyond any geographical, ethnic or cultural boundary can be found at San Francisco Scott Nichols Gallery.
Mario De Biasi Gelatin silver print Gli Italiani si Voltano, 1954 represents the back of a woman in the style and looks of Sophia Loren, my idol-archetype and muse walking in a summer white dress and a fierce nonchalant attitude in front of several Italian men all staring at her at the same time. The photo is a reminder of the environment of natural glamour in which I grew up when living in Italy the first 20 years of my life. Mario De Biasi is recognised as one of the precursors of the Italian Neo-Realism. The photo can be found at New York Steven Kasher Gallery
Photographer Prabir Purkayastha who now lives in India exhibited at Candace Dwan Gallery a selection of stunning photographs from the region of Ladakh, the work is almost a religion on its own . Pure spirituality is deeply embedded in those old people faces and Tibetan prayer flags lost in the wind. If you browse his site you’ll see that there are no more words to add. While admiring his work enchanted I promised to myself to come back once more in the region in spite of previous trips in the region, this time to meet the artist in person trough a dear friend we have in common.
To end this very long monologue, I would love to add several other pictures, but I will limit myself to only a few one is li Herb Ritts Consuelo Veiled Torso. It’s s sensual, suttle and seductive. Three S, and with the S of a triple Scorpio my astrological sign (in Sun, Ascendant and Moon) Herb Ritts Photo for me is equivalent to a six S!
Sebastiao Salgado at Peter Fertterman Gallery with Mexico still shown in my opinion to be one of the best photojournalists in South America and finally Marilyn Monroe in Nevada desert going over her lines, 1960 , famous, tender, timeless. This photo is important as it is part of an important retrospective ” All about Eve” that the Los Angeles based David Gallery is paying in honor of 92 years old photographer Eva Arnold the known by many as the Grand Dame of Photography.
Looking at Marylin so young , innocent and talented I reflected upon Eva’s career. And when and if I ‘ll reach her age I would want to capture as many instants of the world as I have taken so far with my camera…
but mostly come back to this small personal retrospective of my today’s post and laugh!
Joelle’s note.
I would like to thank those galleries who kindly provided me in spite of all the post-exhibition work the pictures in jpg of my choice to be able to share them with everyone.
Canfora
