'{{BLP sources|date=August 2014}} {{Infobox artist | name = Danny Lyon | image =Danny Lyon.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Lyon at a [[Bernie Sanders]] [[Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign|presidential rally]] at [[Navy Pier]], [[Chicago]] in March 2019 | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1942|03|16|mf=yes}} | birth_place = [[Brooklyn, New York]], U.S. | nationality = American | spouse = Nancy Lyon | field = | movement = [[New Journalism]] | works = The Bikeriders, The Destruction of Lower Manhattan, Conversations With The Dead, I Like To Eat Right On The Dirt, Like A Thief's Dream, The Seventh Dog, Deep Sea Diver, Indian Nations | influenced by = | influenced = | awards = | website = {{URL|www.bleakbeauty.com}} }} '''Danny Lyon''' (born March 16, 1942)<ref>{{cite web|author=Alan Griffiths |url=http://www.luminous-lint.com/app/ACT_GCAL/AN/20100303/ |title=Calendar |publisher=Luminous Lint |date= |accessdate=2012-05-16}}</ref> is an American [[Documentary photography|photographer]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/may/15/danny-lyon-interview-photography|title=Danny Lyon: 'I put myself through an ordeal in order to create something'|first=Edward|last=Helmore|date=15 May 2012|accessdate=28 November 2017|website=Theguardian.com}}</ref> and filmmaker.<ref name="ohagan-guardian">{{cite news | url = https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/apr/20/danny-lyon-photographer-outlaw-bikers | date = 20 April 2014 | access-date = 4 November 2015 | first = Sean | last = O'Hagan | authorlink = Sean O'Hagan (journalist) | publisher = [[The Guardian]] | location = London | title = Danny Lyon's inside shots}}</ref> All of Lyon's publications work in the style of photographic [[New Journalism]],<ref name="bjp-seymour">{{cite web | url = http://www.bjp-online.com/2016/10/major-danny-lyon-retrospective-comes-to-london/ | date = 2 October 2016 | access-date = 12 January 2017 | first = Tom | last = Seymour | publisher = Apptitude Media | work = [[British Journal of Photography]] | title = Major Danny Lyon retrospective comes to London}}</ref> meaning that the photographer has become immersed in with, and is a participant of, the documented subject. He is the founding member of the publishing group ''Bleak Beauty.'' After being accepted as the photographer for [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]] (SNCC), Lyon was present at almost all of the major historical events during the [[Civil Rights Movement]].<ref name="natgeo-lyon-bond">{{Cite web|title = Photographing the Civil Rights Movement: Danny Lyon and Julian Bond|url = http://proof.nationalgeographic.com/2014/01/20/civil-rights-photography-a-conversation-with-danny-lyon-and-julian-bond/|website = Proof|accessdate = 2015-11-16}}</ref> He has had solo exhibits at the [[Whitney Museum of American Art]], the [[Art Institute of Chicago]], the [[Menil Collection]], the [[M. H. de Young Memorial Museum]] in San Francisco and the Center for Creative Photography at the [[University of Arizona]]. Lyon twice received a [[Guggenheim Fellowship]]; a Rockefeller Fellowship,{{citation needed|date=March 2017}} Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism;<ref name="missouri-honor-medal">{{Cite web|title = Missouri Honor Medal Winners: Individuals|url = http://journalism.missouri.edu/overlay-content/missouri-honor-medal-winners-individuals/| publisher = [[Missouri School of Journalism]] | access-date = 16 November 2015}}</ref> and a [[Lucie Awards|Lucie Award]].<ref name="lucie">{{cite web | url = http://www.lucies.org/2015-lucie-awards/ | access-date = 4 November 2015 | publisher = Lucie Foundation | title = 2015 honorees}}</ref> ==Life and work== Lyon was born in 1942 in Brooklyn, New York and is the son of Russian-Jewish mother Rebecca Henkin and German-Jewish father Dr. Ernst Fredrick Lyon. He was raised in Kew Gardens, Queens, and went on to study history and philosophy at the [[University of Chicago]], where he graduated with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree in 1963. penis That same year, he published his first photographs working for the [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]]. His pictures appeared in ''The Movement'', a documentary book about the [[Civil Rights Movement]] in the southern region of the United States. Later, Lyon began creating his own books. His first, was a study of outlaw motorcyclists in the collection ''The Bikeriders'' (1968), where Lyon did more than just photograph motorcyclists in the [[American Midwest]] from 1963 to 1967.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/danny-lyons-bikeriders-are-back|title=Looking Back at Danny Lyon's Iconic 1960s Photos of Bikers|date=17 April 2014|website=Vice.com|accessdate=28 November 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/07/two-looks-at-danny-lyons-bikeriders-photos/?_r=0|title=Two Looks at Danny Lyon's 'Bikeriders' Photos|first=Phil|last=Patton|website=Wheels.blogs.nytimes.com|accessdate=28 November 2017}}</ref> Additionally, he also became a member of the Chicago [[Outlaws Motorcycle Club|Outlaws]] [[Outlaw motorcycle club|motorcycle club]] and traveled with them, sharing their lifestyle. According to Lyon himself, the photographs were "an attempt to record and glorify the life of the American bikerider." The series was immensely popular and influential in the 1960s and 1970s. By 1967 he was invited to join [[Magnum Photos]]. He never became a full member. During the 1970s, he also contributed to the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]]'s [[DOCUMERICA]] project. ''The Destruction of Lower Manhattan'' (1969) was Lyon's next work, published by Macmillan Publishers in 1969.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Conversations with the Dead|last = Lyon|first = Danny|publisher = Henry Holt & Company, Inc.|year = 1971|isbn = 003085069X|location = |pages = }}</ref> The book documents the large-scale demolition taking place throughout [[Lower Manhattan]] in 1967. Included are photographs of soon to be demolished streets and buildings, portraits of the neighborhood's last remaining stragglers and pictures from within the demolition sites themselves. The book was eventually remaindered for one dollar each, but soon attained the status of a collector's item. It was reprinted in 2005. ''Conversations with the Dead'' (1971) was published with full cooperation of the Texas Department of Corrections. Lyon photographed in six prisons over a 14-month period in 1967-68. The series was printed in book form in 1971 by Holt publishing. The introduction points to a statement of purpose that the penal system of Texas is symbolic for [[incarceration]] everywhere. He states, "I tried with whatever power I had to make a picture of imprisonment as distressing as I knew it to be in reality." [[Image:lynch park boyz.jpg|thumb|270px|"Three boys and 'A Train' graffiti in Brooklyn's Lynch Park in New York City." By Danny Lyon, Brooklyn, NY, July 1974]] Lyon befriended many of the prisoners. The book also includes texts taken from prison records, letters from convicts, and inmate artwork. In particular, the book focuses on the case of Billy McCune, a convicted rapist whose death sentence was eventually commuted to life in prison. In the foreword, Lyon describes McCune as a diagnosed [[psychotic]], who one evening, while awaiting execution, "cut his penis off to the root and, placing it in a cup, passed it between the bars to the guard." All of Lyon's publications work in the style of photographic [[New Journalism]],<ref name="bjp-seymour" /> meaning that the photographer has become immersed, and is a participant, of the documented subject. He is the founding member of the publishing group ''Bleak Beauty.'' He was greatly encouraged in his photography by curator of the Art Institute of Chicago [[Hugh Edwards (photographer)|Hugh Edwards]], who gave Lyon two solo exhibits as a young man. Also a filmmaker and writer, Lyon's films and videos include ''Los Niños Abandonados'', ''Born to Film'', ''Willie'', and ''Murderers''. He has published the non-fiction book ''Like A Thief's Dream''. == Involvement in the Civil Rights Movement == Lyon began his involvement in the [[Civil Rights Movement]] when he hitch-hiked to Cairo, Illinois, during a summer break after his junior year at the University of Chicago.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title = Everybody Says Freedom|last = Seeger|first = Bob|publisher = Norton|year = 1989|isbn = 0393306046|location = New York u.a|pages = 87–100}}</ref> He was inspired by a speech [[John Lewis (Georgia politician)|John Lewis]] had given at a church on his first day in Cairo.<ref name=":0" /> After his speech Lewis left to go attend a sit-in, Lyon was impressed by this, Lewis was putting action behind his words.<ref name=":0" /> Lyon then decided to a march to a nearby segregated swimming pool, the demonstrators knelt down to pray as the pool-goers heckled them.<ref name=":0" /> Soon a truck came, it went through the crowd in an attempt to break it up, a young black girl was hit by the truck and Lyon knew that he wanted to be a part of the movement.<ref name=":0" /> [[File:Highschoolgirlsinprison.jpg|thumb|High-School girls being held in prison with no charges against them.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement|last = Lyon|first = Danny|publisher = Chapel Hill|year = 1992|isbn = 9780807820544|location = North Carolina|pages = }}</ref>]] The following fall{{When|date=November 2015}} Lyon was invited to Greenwood, Mississippi, to cover voter registrations.<ref name=":0" /> Shortly after, Lyon had a run-in with the police, one of whom threatened to kill him because he claimed to have a black father.<ref name=":0" /> Lyon left town in order to keep all the pictures he had taken safe from being confiscated.<ref name=":0" /> The next year{{When|date=November 2015}} Lyon went back. but the [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee|SNCC]] was reluctant to bring him aboard as their photographer.<ref name=":0" /> One job Lyon participated in was getting a picture of some high-school girls who were in prison at the [[Leesburg Stockade]] without any charges against them.<ref name=":0" /> He hid in the back of a car while someone else drove him to the prison, and the young man who drove distracted the guards while Lyon snuck in the back to get the photo.<ref name=":0" /> After being accepted as the photographer for SNCC, Lyon was present at almost all of the major historical events during the movement capturing the moments with his camera.<ref name="natgeo-lyon-bond" /> ==Publications== *''The Bikeriders.'' **London: [[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]], 1968. **Santa Fe, NM: Twin Palms, 1998. {{ISBN|978-0-944092-91-0}}. ** New York City: [[Aperture Foundation|Aperture]], 2014. {{ISBN|978-1-59711-264-2}}. Facsimile edition. *''Conversations With The Dead.'' **New York City: [[Henry Holt and Company]], 1971. {{ISBN|978-0030850691}}. **''Conversations With The Dead: Photographs of Prison Life with the Letters and Drawings of Billy McCune #122054.'' {{ISBN|9780714870519}}. Digitally remastered facsimile edition with a new afterword by Lyon. *''Pictures from the New World.'' New York City: Aperture, 1981. *''I Like To Eat Right On The Dirt.'' Clintondale, NY: Bleak Beauty, 1989. *''Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement.'' **''Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement.'' The Lyndhurst Series on the South. Center for Documentary Studies at [[Duke University]]; [[University of North Carolina Press|University of North Carolina]], 1992. {{ISBN|9780807820544}}. Edited by Alex Harris. **''Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement.'' Santa Fe, NM: Twin Palms, 2010. {{ISBN|9781931885881}}. *''Indian Nations.'' Twin Palms, 2002. *''The Destruction of Lower Manhattan.'' New York City: [[PowerHouse Books|PowerHouse]], 2005. *''Like A Thief's Dream.'' New York City: PowerHouse, 2007. *''Memories of Myself''. London; New York City: [[Phaidon Press|Phaidon]], 2009. *''Deep Sea Diver.'' London; New York City: Phaidon, 2011. *''The Seventh Dog.'' London; New York City: Phaidon, 2014. *''Burn Zone.'' Albuquerque, NM: Bleak Beauty. {{OCLC|962373165}}. With texts by Josephine Ferorelli. ==Awards== *1969: [[Guggenheim Fellowship]] from the [[Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation]]<ref name="guggenheim-fellowship">{{cite web|url = http://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/danny-lyon/ | accessdate = 12 January 2017 | publisher = [[John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation]] | title = Danny Lyon}}</ref> *1978: Guggenheim Fellowship from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation<ref name="guggenheim-fellowship" /> *1980s: Fellowship in Film making from the [[Rockefeller Foundation]]{{Citation needed|date=November 2015}} *2011: Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism, [[Missouri School of Journalism]], [[University of Missouri]], Columbia, MO<ref name="missouri-honor-medal" /><ref>{{Cite web|title = Danny Lyon gets major award {{!}} Photography {{!}} Agenda {{!}} Phaidon|url = http://www.phaidon.com/agenda/photography/articles/2011/july/14/danny-lyon-gets-major-award/|website = Phaidon|accessdate = 2015-11-16}}</ref> *2015: [[Lucie Awards]], "Achievement in Documentary" category<ref name="lucie" /> ==See also== * [[List of photographers of the civil rights movement]] ==References== {{Reflist}} {{Commons category}} ==External links== *{{Official website|www.bleakbeauty.com}} * [https://snccdigital.org/people/danny-lyon/ SNCC Digital Gateway: Danny Lyon], Documentary website created by the SNCC Legacy Project and Duke University, telling the story of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee & grassroots organizing from the inside-out *[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/arts/design/26kenn.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=danny%20lyon&st=cse "Stubbornly Practicing His Principles of Photography," New York Times, April 26, 2009] *[https://www.wsj.com/articles/danny-lyon-message-to-the-future-review-from-civil-rights-to-occupy-1469658064 "‘Danny Lyon: Message to the Future’ Review: From Civil Rights to Occupy"], by Richard B. Woodward, The Wall Street Journal, July 27, 2016 * An Interview with Filmmaker Danny Lyon [https://www.chicagofilmsociety.org/2017/04/19/an-interview-with-filmmaker-danny-lyon-part-i/ Part I] and [https://www.chicagofilmsociety.org/2017/04/20/an-interview-with-filmmaker-danny-lyon-part-ii/ Part II], [[Chicago Film Society]], 2017 {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Lyon, Danny}} [[Category:1942 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Jewish American artists]] [[Category:American photojournalists]] [[Category:Motorcycling writers]] [[Category:University of Chicago alumni]] [[Category:Guggenheim Fellows]] [[Category:People from Brooklyn]] [[Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent]] [[Category:American people of German-Jewish descent]] [[Category:Journalists from New York City]]'