At the booth of Galerie St. Etienne, director Jane Kallir, standing in front of works on paper by Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger, Gustav Klimt, and Käthe Kollwitz, reflected on the market. “The good news is that there is still a market, if you price things correctly. Prices are down, but if you are committed, there has never been a better time to buy.” The important thing, she said, is “to be honest with clients and realistic about pricing. In the ’90s, the recession was protracted because no one would reduce prices. That’s looking different now, as long as auction houses and dealers and sellers respond quickly.”

New York’s Kraushaar Galleries sold a Robert Kulicke work on paper, Flowers (1979), for about $950. “Attendance is clearly down,” said director Katherine Degn. “But the opening was a nice party. People are cautious — not impulsive — but good material is good material. A sense of value has become more important, and people are looking for things that have stood the test of time. They aren’t going to spend a lot of money on a 20-something contemporary artist."

Avuncular modern art dealer Achim Moeller had a green dot, designating a museum reserve, next to a vintage print of Victor Obsatz’s iconic black-and-white Portrait of Marcel Duchamp from 1953, from an edition of 3. “The museum is trying to raise the money,” said Moeller, politely declining to disclose the price.

Although sales seemed thin in the first days of the fair, as ADAA president Roland Augustine pointed out, the Art Show has never had the run-and-buy mentality of, say, Art Basel Miami Beach — and even dealers who had seen little action didn’t seem particularly discouraged. Unfortunately, the dealer who may have had the most success on Wednesday night wasn’t even at the fair. Alexander Grey sold more than a hundred works by Cary Leibowitz at his Chelsea gallery at the very same time the ADAA show was opening. Leibowitz’s prices? A recession-friendly $15 a pop.

Sarah Douglas is Staff Writer at Art+Auction. She blogs at The Appraisal.