Danny Lyon

Born 1942

ABOUT

Danny Lyon is a photojournalist, writer, and filmmaker. Lyon was born in Brooklyn, New York on March 16, 1942. Lyon attended NYC public schools and in 1959 bought his first camera, an Exa SLR in Munich, Germany during a summer trip, then entered the University of Chicago, where he majored in philosophy and ancient history. In 1963 he became The Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee’s (SNCC) first photographer. He joined the Chicago Outlaws in 1966 and had his first one man show that same year at the Art Institute of Chicago. Danny Lyon’s photographs are in Museums and collections throughout the world. In 2016 and 2017 his retrospective, Message to the Future, was shown at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City and the de Young, Museum of Fine Arts, San Francisco. In 2022 the Albuquerque Museum of Art will mount a major exhibition, Danny Lyon – Journey West. Danny Lyon is represented by the Edwynn Houk Gallery in New York City. He is an active blogger at Bleakbeauty.com, his IG is dannylyonphotos.  Among his many books are The Bikeriders, The Destruction of Lower Manhattan, Conversations with the Dead, Knave of Hearts, Deep Sea Diver, and The Seventh Dog. Karma published a complete collection of his essays, American Blood, in 2020.

• Danny Lyon was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame at a ceremony November 4th, 2022.