Scott Mead

Scott Mead[1] was born in Washington, DC.[27] His father, James M. Mead, was a businessperson. With extended family based out of Erie, Pennsylvania during his youth, Mead's grandfather John J. Mead Jr.[1] had been a press journalist[2][28] and photographer[29] for the Erie Times-News, founded and owned by the Mead family.[1] After accompanying his grandfather on assignments as a small child,[27] Mead picked up photography after he was given one of his grandfather's cameras at age thirteen.[29] Mead taught himself how to develop photographs in his parents' basement.[2] He attended high school at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts,[1] graduating in 1973.[22] In 1974 he began attending Harvard College.[7] At Harvard he majored in American history and literature,[19] also focusing on the visual arts under professors such as William Eggleston.[29] Mead graduated cum laude[1] with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1977.[24] After receiving the Harvard Scholar award that year to attend Cambridge University,[16] in 1979[19] he graduated Cambridge's Emmanuel College with a Master of Philosophy.[16] Mead subsequently received a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania law school[1] in 1982.[19]

Mead minored in visual studies at Harvard, studying under photographers such as William Eggleston[29] and Emmet Gowin in the mid-1970s.[27] Among other projects, around this time he "used a complex photography technique to shoot a series of black and white photographs capturing rural New England" circular format.[30] In 2009, Mead rediscovered old prints and negatives from his student years in his attic,[2] and began re-immersing himself in photography.[27]

In 2010, 25 of Mead's images from 1974 to 1977,[11] many of them never printed before,[27] were displayed at a London solo exhibition titled Looking Back[11] at Mayfair gallery Hamilton's,[4][20] with all funds donated to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.[27] Prints from the exhibit and other works were afterward selected for inclusion in the 2011 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, and Mead also had prints selected for the Royal Academy summer exhibition in 2012,[27] 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.[11] In 2012 the BBC Culture Show program profiled his work,[13] and Mead published the book Looking Back afterwards, featuring prints from his twenties.[27] In October 2017 the aerial photography and philosophy book Above the Clouds was published by Prestel,[14] with prints from the book exhibited in January 2018 at Hamiltons.[33] His most recent book, Equivalents was published by Prestel in late 2022. The book, inspired by William Eggleston, features paired nature photographs, with text by Brad Leithauser.[15]

Mead created The Mead Family Foundation[20] in 1996,[19] also assuming the role of chairman.[17] After Great Ormond Street Hospital in London cured his infant child of leukaemia, Mead became a long-term supporter[11] and board member of the institution.[19] He has also endowed the Great Ormond Street Hospital's GOSH Arts program, where patients are immersed in the arts during often difficult treatments, potentially resulting in a more positive outcome.[34] Mead has also been on the board of visitors of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.[35]

Mead has spearheaded a number of educational initiatives, and he backed and co-founded London's Notting Hill Preparatory school in 2003.[23] He has been a board member of Usher's New Look Foundation, which provides training and mentorship to disadvantaged children,[23][36] and he joined the UK advisory board of Room to Read in 2009.[19] He remains involved in all of his alma maters, including Phillips Academy,[22] Emmanuel College,[37] Cambridge University,[36] and Harvard University.[24] Mead founded the Mead International Fellows Program,[30] and in 2008 he established the "Scott Mead '77 Family Head Coach" endowment to support the Harvard Men's Tennis team.[38] A benefactor fellow at Emmanuel College,[39] he was the creator and benefactor of the University of the Arts London's Mead Fellowships, which provides grants to students in the arts.[40] He is also the creator of the Mead Fellowship at University of Pennsylvania Law School.[25]

He is also involved in various athletic and arts organizations. He joined the executive committee for the Tate Foundation,[17] and is on the Tate's acquisition committee.[41] Also on the global advisory council of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA),[21] he has also been a member of the trustees of Queens Club.[41] Since 2011[19] he has been a trustee of the International Center of Photography in New York,[18] and he joined the rector's council of the University of the Arts London in 2012, and its court of governors in 2017.[19] Furthermore, he was chairman of the board of trustees[20] of The Photographers' Gallery in London from 2013[19][20] until 2016.[19] He was elected to the Harvard Board of Overseers in 2022.[26]

• 2010: Looking Back - Solo exhibition / Hamilton's Gallery, London - 25 of Mead's prints from 1974 to 1977 were exhibited[11]
• 2010-2011: The PhotoVoice Auction of Exceptional Photographs - Group show - Mead's print “Three Barns” and “Untitled” exhibited and sold as part of the auction to benefit PhotoVoice[11]
• 2011-2012: The Art Show - Group show / Park Avenue Armory, New York - His print “Evening Light” was exhibited, followed by "Untitled (Umbrellas on Beach)," with the show organized by the Art Dealers Association of America to benefit Henry Street Settlement[11]
• 2011-2017: Summer Exhibition - Group show / Royal Academy of Arts, London - various photograph prints selected, most recently "Journey into Blue" and "Autumn”[11]
• 2018: Scott Mead: Above the Clouds - Solo exhibition / Hamilton's Gallery, London - several prints[33]
• 2019–2020, 2022-2023: Summer Exhibition - Group show / Royal Academy of Arts, London[12]

• 2010: Looking Back by Scott Mead (self-published 1st edition)[42]
• 2017: Above the Clouds by Scott Mead (Prestel)[14]
• Equivalents (Prestel; 2022)[15]

• List of former employees of Goldman Sachs

• Official website