
Torello Tacchi's Back, London, New Hampshire
<p>A photographer, filmmaker, and writer, Danny Lyon has become known for immersing himself in the lives of his subjects, whether civil rights protesters in the South or prisoners of the Texas penitentiary system. Beginning in 1963, he spent four years with the Chicago Outlaws, a renegade motorcycle club, photographing its members and their activities. He published the photographs in a 1968 book titled <em>The Bikeriders</em>, a visual and textual documentary of American motorcycle gangs; he dedicated it to Hugh Edwards, at that time curator of photography at the Art Institute, who had given him early encouragement. Combining photographs with transcribed interviews and Outlaws’ monologues, the project was, as Lyon wrote, intended to “record and glorify the life of the American bikerider.” Though the book only reproduced work in black and white, Lyon also shot in color, having first done so in 1964 when he photographed Colombian prostitutes.</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1961
- Medium
- Chromogenic print
- Dimensions
- Image: 43 × 29.9 cm (16 15/16 × 11 13/16 in.); Paper: 50.4 × 40.5 cm (19 7/8 × 16 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Artist
- Danny Lyon
Artist

Photography
Danny Lyon considers himself a photojournalist, and his work, a brand of advocacy journalism; Lyon devotes his career to documenting the demonstrations of social activism in which he has immersed himself. A self-taught photographer, Lyon was first introduced to the medium as a staff photographer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, photographing civil rights demonstrations against segregation in the American South. His other subjects have included the Chicago Outlaw Motorcycle Club (of which he was part for two years), the Texas prison system, the Occupy movement, and the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan. His work was perhaps most strongly influenced by the 1941 publication Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, featuring text by James Agee and photographs by Walker Evans.
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More by Danny Lyon
"Good By from Friends"
1985 · Gelatin silver print
IRT 2, South Bronx, New York City
1979 · Gelatin silver print, No. 30 from the portfolio "Danny Lyon" (1979)
IRT 2, South Bronx, New York City
1979 · Gelatin silver print
IRT 2, South Bronx, New York City
1979 · Gelatin silver print, No. 29 from the portfolio "Danny Lyon" (1979)
IRT 2, South Bronx, New York City
1979 · Gelatin silver print
Bus Stop, Tehauntepec, Oaxaca
1978 · Gelatin silver print, No. 28 from the portfolio "Danny Lyon" (1979)
Record
Verified by WattsOS- Artist
- Danny Lyon
- Year
- 1961
- Medium
- Chromogenic print
- Dimensions
- Image: 43 × 29.9 cm (16 15/16 × 11 13/16 in.); Paper: 50.4 × 40.5 cm (19 7/8 × 16 in.)
- Watts ID
- WW-1961-031529
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified





