AXA Art Americas on its role as the lead sponsor of AIPAD
With the 36th installment of The Photography Show about to launch at The Park Avenue Armory galleryIntell sat down to talk to Christiane Fischer and Vivian Ebersman of AXA Art Americas to talk about the international insurer's long time support of the fair and its member galleries, and what they offer to the collectors of photography — be they experienced connoisseurs of the medium, or someone making his or her first steps into the world of photography collecting. Below is the transcript of the video interview, and in the coming days we'll be posting a full transcript of our conversation, so make sure to come back and read all the wonderful insights and recommendations these two experts shared with our team.
Video interview transcript:
Gordon Parks Invisible Man Retreat Harlem 1952. Image © The Gordon Parks Foundation. Courtesy The Gordon Parks Foundation and Weinstein Gallery

Christiane Fischer, President & CEO AXA Art Americas: AIPAD brings together the world leaders in photography, and what they provide with this fair is a place for the galleries to show their knowledge, to show their wares, obviously, and represent the artists, but also to help reach collectors that are specifically interested in photography collecting, and foster that level of understanding and connoisseurship. I think it’s this interaction between the gallery representatives and the collector that ultimately brings a lot of value to the fair and to the membership of AIPAD.

Vivian Ebersman, Director Art Expertise at AXA Art Americas Corporation: We like our collectors to be aware of aspects of their collection that they might not think about, having chosen the works – then what happens next. We feel that we are very, very well versed in the care and handling of works of art through our collective experiences as a global company. In others words, there are lots of stories that we’ve heard. So we try to talk about furthering the depth of their enjoyment of the collection through connoisseurship, through research. We try to encourage people to be very good record keepers about what they have, and we try to encourage best practices in shipping and handling. We’ve seen such a growth of interest in photography and it’s really blossomed and it’s blossomed among collectors as well as artists. And in a way, coming to the fair really helps the visitors prepare to look at the works that they see in museums and in galleries and to understand how artists, who’s primary practices may be focused on sculpture and painting, also utilize photography. So the fair is a wonderful delight for us.

Ruth Bernhard, Two Leaves, 1952, Silver Gelatin Print, Image courtesy Scott Nichols Gallery AIPAD 2016

Christiane Fischer, President & CEO AXA Art Americas: We are honored to be supporting the only global art photography fair that is happening in the world. For the last 4 decades, AIPAD has been promoting and encouraging the connoisseurship as well as the appreciation of photography as a medium, and that is very important, especially also because photography is the way for many young collectors to enter the collecting market. We can support the AIPAD members on a global scale. So wherever AIPAD members are located, AXA Art will be able to offer them an insurance solution and support their activities locally, I think one of the advantages of being a truly international art insurer is that we have the knowledge in each individual market place, and we are very, very closely working with all the local members in each art, sort of, community. So we know all the international shippers but we also know the local people. We know the local conservators, we know the local appraisers so our network is very international and very local at the same time and this is what we can bring in support to also the members of AIPAD and their clients ultimately,