New York's print fairs: A season well attended
- Irene Michnicki
- Apr 30
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 30
April brought another installment of the IFPDA and the Brooklyn Fine Art Print fair to New York. We were glad to see them both well attended and we have plenty to say about what was on view.
For those who care about original prints, early April in New York is about as good as it gets. The IFPDA Print Fair and the Brooklyn Print Fair overlap each other perfectly, drawing collectors, dealers, artists, and the simply curious from across the country and beyond. The two events have very different characters, which makes attending both in the same week a genuinely worthwhile experience.
Milestone Graphics was not exhibiting this spring, but we were very much present, walking the booths, looking at work, and having the kinds of conversations that only happen when the whole print world shows up in the same city at the same time.
The IFPDA Print Fair
Park Avenue Armory, New York City
The International Fine Print Dealers Association Fair remains the foremost showcase for original prints, drawings, and works on paper in the world. It is a serious fair, in the best sense. The booths are dense with work spanning centuries and techniques, and the dealers who exhibit there bring an expertise that is hard to find anywhere else concentrated in one room.
What we appreciate most about the IFPDA fair is the depth of historical material on offer. You can move from a sixteenth-century engraving to a mid-century lithograph to something made last year, and the through-line of printmaking as a discipline becomes vividly clear. For anyone who wants to understand where printmaking has been, and therefore where it might go, an afternoon at this fair is genuinely educational.
The Brooklyn Fine Art Print Fair
Powerhouse Arts, Brooklyn, NY
If the IFPDA fair is the establishment, the Brooklyn Fine Art Print Fair is its younger sibling, less formal and full of energy. It brings together artists, printmakers, publishers, and collectors in a spirit of contemporary printmaking that feels genuinely communal. The location at Powerhouse Arts in Gowanus, Brooklyn is creative center housed inside of a repurposed historic power plant. It has multiple floors with one that includes a grand wide-open hall where the main booths for the fair are housed. The grand hall is the perfect spot for this unique gathering of print makers and print lovers.
Milestone Graphics participated as an exhibitor in 2025. We really felt the community during the inaugural first year of the Brooklyn Fine Art Print Fair and it was no less apparent in 2026. Walking in, we immediately had to stop and chat with the first two booths at the beginning of the entrance to the grand hall: Obee Editions & D&S Fine Art Editions.
And then an hour later...
After an hour of chatting that felt like seconds, we had only gotten maybe 100 feet into the hall and only had an hour left before the official close that day. With many friends and colleagues participating or attending, it truly felt like a reunion. And with our Tamarind Institute roots, it was hard not to stay late and hangout with all the lithographers once the official print fair hours were over. Went for the prints, but stayed for the print people.
The Brooklyn fair skews toward living artists and smaller publishers, which makes it a different experience all together. You are more likely to encounter something brand new, some things that are still finding their audience, and there is real pleasure in that. The conversations are easy and the enthusiasm is contagious.
Though Milestone attended as a visitor instead of an exhibitor this year, the fair's energy and community are something we very much hope to be part of in the years ahead. It represents exactly the kind of gathering that matters most to us.
Two Fairs, One Week
IFPDA · New York City
International dealers and works spanning centuries of printmaking, from historical all the way to contemporary. A destination for serious collectors and a vital meeting point for the print trade.
Brooklyn Print Fair · Brooklyn, NY
Contemporary artists, independent publishers, and a warm community atmosphere. A fair that celebrates printmaking as a living, breathing practice.
These two print fairs together make a compelling case for the health of the print world. Different audiences, different sensibilities, but the same underlying conviction: that original prints matter, that the people who make and collect them form a real community, and that gathering in person to look at work together is irreplaceable.
We're looking forward to the future editions of the fairs and seeing the community that gathers around them. In the meantime, if you attended either fair this year and want to talk about what you saw, we would love to hear from you.
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