LIGHT Gallery miscellaneous acquisitions collection

The owner and founder of LIGHT Gallery was Tennyson Schad (1930-2001), who held a strong interest in the collection of contemporary photography. Schad first considered photojournalism for the market, but after seeing the works of contemporary photographers like Aaron Siskind and Harry Callahan, Schad changed his focus. At the time, the Witkin Gallery was the only other New York gallery devoted solely to photography, which had opened in 1969 and represented 19th and 20th century photography. LIGHT Gallery was different as it was the first gallery to exclusively market, exhibit, and sell contemporary photography, often featuring young up-and-coming artists that no one had heard of. Many influential photographers were represented at LIGHT Gallery including Frederick Sommer, Garry Winogrand, Aaron Siskind, Harry Callahan, among others.

In 1971, Schad hired Harold Jones as LIGHT Gallery’s first director, and the gallery opened at 1018 Madison Avenue in New York City. Jones had previously been working as a curator at the George Eastman House in Rochester. In 1975, Jones went on to become the first director of the Center for Creative Photography. In 1976, the Gallery moved to 724 Fifth Avenue, which was a much larger space.

Robert Mann was the last director of LIGHT Gallery, from 1983 until its closing in 1987. The vast majority of photography gallerists and directors trained at or worked with LIGHT Gallery including Jones (director, 1971-1975), Peter MacGill (associate director, 1977-1979; director, 1980-1981), Robert Mann (director, 1983-1987), Laurence Miller (associate director, 1974-1980), Victor Schrager (director, 1975-1978) and Charles Traub (director, 1978-1980).

Tennyson Schad was born in 1930 in New York. He attended Williams College and New York University Law School, where he studied law. Schad practiced law for Cravath, Swaine & Moore, and later opened his own firm, Norwick, Schad & Goering. During this time, Schad also worked as an editorial counsel for Time Inc., where he met and married photography editor Fern Schad, and his passion for photography was born. Schad kept his other interest in photojournalism, and for over 30 years, worked as outside counsel for Forbes magazine. Schad passed away from cancer on May 26, 2001 in Manhattan.