Northlight Gallery was founded on the Tempe campus by Professor Jack Stuler and MFA photo students in 1972 at a time when the medium was struggling to be recognized locally as a fine art. Now, over five decades later, photography and related digital technologies dominate contemporary art as well as our daily lives.
The Northlight Gallery collection was originally established to support the educational courses in photography. The collection holds examples of historical photographic processes from the
mid 1800s, including the Daguerreotype, salt prints, tintypes, Woodbury types, photogravure, Van Dyke, and cyanotype as well as more contemporary works in gelatin silver and digital printing. Photographic artworks by current and former ASU Faculty and students demonstrate the technical and conceptual foundations for the BFA and MFA degree programs and are an integral part of the collection.
The Photographic Exhibitions course was designed so students could work directly with the collections to curate exhibitions, catalog and preserve artworks and design and install shows.
This kind of hands-on experience with renowned works and historical and contemporary photography is inspiring and created a professional environment in which students apply skills and knowledge as they learn.
In 1991 an ASU alumnus who had worked with emeritus professor James Hajicek agreed to place his collection on long-term loan at Northlight Gallery to support the education of future students, as well as the Solari Foundation Collection owned by ASU alumnus Nasrallah Behbehani. Students continued to work directly with both collections, and in 2017 a catalogue raisonné of the Solari Foundation collection was published along with a book of featured works, which included essays written by ASU students and faculty.
The Northlight Collection that includes the work of internationally renowned artists such as Thomas Barrow, Ruth Bernhard, Harry Callahan, Van Deren Coke, Betty Hahn, and Paul Strand, as well as faculty and alumni, continues to serve a vital role in the education of students earning BFA and MFA degrees in photography.”
The Solari Foundation Collection on loan to Northlight Gallery from 1991 to 2025 featured the works of some of the world’s best-known and historically significant photographers such as: Eugene Atget, Richard Avedon, Ruth Bernhard, Matthew Brady, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Henri Cartier Bresson, Margaret Bourke-White, Harry Callahan, Julia Margaret Cameron, Linda Connor, Edward S. Curtis, Francis Frith, Gertrude Käsebier, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, J. Pascal Sébah, Aaron Siskind, Frederick Sommer, Edward Steichen, Jerry Uelsmann, Andy Warhol, Edward Weston, Clarence White and Garry Winogrand. ASU students had the opportunity to work with and learn from over 2500 photographic prints and rare books including daguerreotypes from the mid 19th century to digital prints from the 21st century. The collection is owned by ASU alumnus Nasrallah Behbehani (BFA, 1977) whose generosity over 3 decades contributed to the education of countless students earning degrees in photography by providing them with the opportunity to work directly with renown photographs as he had done as a student under the mentorship of Professor Emeritus James Hajicek.
In 2017 a three-volume catalogue of the collection was privately published. Volume I included 37 featured works with essays researched and written by ASU students enrolled in Professor Betsy Fahlman’s seminar. Volume II included a catalogue raisonné of Edward S. Curtis’ The North American Indian books and portfolios as well as Alfred Stieglitz’s Camera Work with accompanying essays giving an overview of each publication.
Volume III included a catalogue raisonné of all the remaining 19th, 20th and 21st century material with two thematic essays: “Leaning Toward the East: 19th Century Travel Photography in the Middle East” and “Everything Changes, Everything Stays the Same,” a feminist critique of images of women in the collection. Students enrolled in the Photographic Exhibitions course with Northlight Gallery curator Liz Allen curated a serious of four exhibitions that featured the Solari Collection: Regarding the Canon; Documentary & Street Photography; Myth/Majesty/Metaphor; and Unceded Hearts/Unceded Minds. Although the Solari Foundation Collection is no longer at Northlight Gallery, the catalogues are part of the Northlight Gallery Permanent Collection.
It was during Mr. Behbehani’s time at ASU that Professor Hajicek developed the Photographic Exhibitions course that taught students professional skills in archival practices, curation, cataloging and installation within the teaching laboratory that was Northlight Gallery. From 1999 to 2023 Norhtlight Gallery curator Liz Allen taught the Photographic Exhibitions course that had so influenced Mr. Behbehani as a collector and philanthropist, thus continuing to educate and inspire students earning their BFA and MFA degrees in photography through the Solari Foundation Collection. Ms. Allen continues to be the curator and collections manager of the Solari Foundation Collection after it left Northlight Gallery in the Summer of 2025.
