Midtown Y Photography Gallery was a pioneering nonprofit organisation in New York that offered photographers an opportunity to publicly exhibit their work. The Gallery ran from 1972 until 1996 directed in turn by photographers Larry Siegel, Sy Rubin and Michael Spano. Establishment Larry Siegel, with the help of Robert Menschel and NYSCA, founded the Midtown Y Photography Gallery in 1972 as a corridor gallery at the Emanu-El Midtown YM-YWHA on 14th Street. Larry Siegel had previously established the Image Gallery, which along with Helen Gee’s Limelight Gallery was one of the few venues in New York City, apart from the Museum of Modern Art, that held photography exhibitions in the 1950s and early 1960s. Purpose Though it occasionally showed historical photographs, and established contemporary practitioners such as David Attie and Robert Giard during its first decade, the Midtown Y Photography Gallery concentrated on promoting the work of emerging artists. It issued open calls for participation in large thematic exhibitions but most often selected exhibitors by conducting portfolio reviews, the work being shown alongside that of one or two other photographers. For most, this was their first “solo” exposure in New York or their first public display of work. Some returned subsequently to show later work. Exhibitions 1973–1993 April 18–May 30, 1973 Barbara Walz 29 January–24 February 1975, Harry Lapow, Coney Island April 6–April 29, 1975 John Messina November 22–December 18, 1977, Fred Casden: The Zoo December 28, 1977–January 22,1978, The Recent Work of John Ganis December 28, 1977–January 22, 1978, The Recent Work of Mark Schwartz 1978 (n.d.) Harvey Stein November 1–November 26, 1978, Nathan Farb, Soviets: Photographs of the Russian People January 4–January 28, 1979, Robert Giard: Grounds October 24–November 18, 1979, David Attie: Russians and Americans Photographing Themselves May 29–August 15, 1980, Four Photographers from the Visual Arts Referral Service CAPS September 17–October 18, 1981, Color Photography in the Urban Environment''' Todd Weinstein- Patrick D. Pagnano December 17, 1981–January 10, 1982, Photographs by Larry Chatman October 22–November 15, 1981, Michael Spano March 3–March 27, 1983, Recent Photographs by Louis Stettner October 6–October 30, 1983, William E. Williams: Philadelphia Parties and Portraits October 6–October 30, 1983, Photographs by Arlene Gottfried December 15, 1983–January 15, 1984, Quince Anos January 19–February 19, 1984, Platinum and Palladium March 22–April 22, 1984, Two Photographers May 3–June 3, 1984, Extended Frames September 20–November 4, 1984, Geoffrey Biddle: Loisaida: The Spanish Lower East Side Photographs