Fred Lyon

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Fred Lyon
Born
Frederick George Lyon Jr.

(1924-09-27)September 27, 1924
San Francisco, California, U.S.
DiedAugust 22, 2022(2022-08-22) (aged 97)
San Francisco, California, U.S.
EducationArtCenter College of Design
Years active1940s–2017
Known forPhotography
Spouse(s)Anne (née Murray),
Penelope Whelan Rozis
Children2
WebsiteOfficial website

Fred Lyon (September 27, 1924 – August 22, 2022) was an American photographer.[1] He was known for shots of foggy San Francisco,[2][3] and photos of San Francisco life from the 1940s to the 1960s.[4][5][6] Lyon worked in different roles within photography, including as a military photographer, a photojournalist, a fashion photographer, landscape photographer, and as a street photographer. His nocturnal San Francisco photography was often compared with Hungarian–French photographer Brassaï.[3]

Early life and education[edit]

Fred Lyon was born on September 27, 1924, at St. Luke's Hospital in San Francisco, California.[2][7] His father had farming interests and a 18,000-acre ranch in the San Joaquin Valley.[8] He was raised in San Carlos and Burlingame.[2][9][7] He got his first camera at age 12.[7] As a teenager he started practicing photography, and at age 15 he got his first job as a photographer's assistant at the Moulin Studios.[8]

After high school at age 17, he enrolled at Art Center School in Los Angeles (now ArtCenter College of Design).[2][7] One summer Lyon studied under Ansel Adams, who taught at ArtCenter.[2]

Career[edit]

After the Pearl Harbor attack, around 1943, Lyon dropped out of college and enrolled in the United States Navy with the intention of becoming a pilot,[7] but instead he worked as a military photographer.[8][2] In his role as military photographer, Lyon photographed the Roosevelt family portrait,[7] and was witness to Harry S. Truman’s first day as president.[10]

After the war he lived in New York City, working as a fashion photographer.[2] In either 1947 or 1948, he had his first photo magazine assignment for Homes and Gardens.[8] He briefly worked for fashion houses in New York City, as well as worked as a freelance photographer for Vogue, Glamour, and Life magazines.[4] His first wife was model Anne (née Murray), who posed in many of his early images.[2]

The couple eventually moved to San Francisco.[2] In 1949, he had a solo exhibition titled, Photographs by Fred G. Lyon, Jr. at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.[11] In the 1950s, Lyon socialized with Richard Diebenkorn and other painters within the Bay Area Figurative Movement.[3] He would take photographs of San Francisco landmarks including the Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower, hotels in Nob Hill and cityscapes, which were often highlighting the fog.[2][10] Lyon had a love of both old San Francisco, as well as the newer version of the city.[10]

Lyon also had a special interest in photographing vineyards and wineries in nearby Napa and Sonoma.[10] In 2013, the film documentary Fred Lyon: Living Through the Lens was made by filmmaker Michael House.[5]

His last photo was taken when he was in his 90s in 2017 of the 500 Club bar sign in the Mission District.[7]

Personal life and death[edit]

"I see pictures I would like to take, I need another lifetime to photograph San Francisco. But my life has been so much fun I can't believe it."

Fred Lyon, [10]

Lyon's first wife Anne (née Murray), a fashion model, died in 1989.[2] They had two sons, Michael and Gordon.[2] In the 1970s Lyon lived in Sausalito, California.[8]

In 2003, Lyon married interior designer Penelope Whelan Rozis.[2][12] For many years he lived in the Cow Hollow neighborhood of San Francisco.[13][10]

Lyon died on August 22, 2022, in his home in San Francisco, he had lung cancer.[2][10] SFGate remembered him as someone with "one of the longest, most prolific careers of any 20th century photographer."[10][14]

Publications[edit]

  • Draper, Margaret F.; Atkinson, Nancy (1952). Ballet for Beginners. Fred Lyon (photography). Alfred A. Knopf.
  • Lyon, Fred (1970). A Week In Windley's World: Hawaii. Face to Face Series. Collier-Macmillan. ISBN 9780027615005.
  • Gillette, Peter; Gillette, Paul (1974). Playboy's Book Of Wine. Fred Lyon (photography), Playboy Press. The Ridge Press, Inc. ISBN 978-0872234116.
  • Lyon, Fred (2017). San Francisco Noir: Photographs by Fred Lyon. Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 978-1616896515.
  • Lyon, Fred (2019). Vineyards: Photographs by Fred Lyon. Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 978-1616898489.
  • Meza, Philip E. (2022). Inventing the California Look: Interiors by Frances Elkins, Michael Taylor, John Dickinson, and Other Design Innovators. Fred Lyon (photography), Jared Goss (forward). Rizzoli Press. ISBN 978-0847871520.
  • Unterberger, Richie (2022). Golden, Reuel (ed.). San Francisco. Portrait of a City. Fred Lyon (photography). TASCHEN. ISBN 9783836574853.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Syken, Bill (2022-03-25). "West Coast Wonderful: The Photography of Fred Lyon". LIFE. Retrieved 2022-08-31.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Amand, Lisa (2022-08-30). "'His DNA was in San Francisco': Photographer Fred Lyon dies at 97". SFGATE. Retrieved 2022-08-31.
  3. ^ a b c "The Fog". Nob Hill Gazette. No. 39. August 2017. OCLC 41328641.
  4. ^ a b "'Love Letter To San Francisco' Photo Exhibit Opens Tomorrow". Hoodline. 2014-11-07. Retrieved 2022-09-05.
  5. ^ a b "Fred Lyon: Living Through the Lens". KQED. 5 October 2014. Retrieved 2022-09-06.
  6. ^ Whiting, Sam (2016-08-03). "Fred Lyon's midcentury SF photos get their due". SFGATE. Retrieved 2022-09-06.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Whiting, Sam (2022-09-09). "The negatives sat for years in a file cabinet. They turned him into a star S.F. photographer at age 80". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2022-09-11.
  8. ^ a b c d e Keown, Don (February 21, 1976). "Photographer Fred Lyon's Job: Seduce Our Jaded Senses". San Rafael Independent Journal. pp. 33–34. ISSN 0745-9319.
  9. ^ "A Conversation With Fred Lyon, San Francisco Photographer Since The 1940s". Hoodline. 2016-09-17. Retrieved 2022-09-05.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h Brekke, Dan (August 28, 2022). "Fred Lyon, Renowned San Francisco Photographer, Dies at Age 97". KQED. Retrieved 2022-08-31.
  11. ^ Fortnight: The Newsmagazine of California, Volumes 6-7. O. D. Keep. 1949. p. 5.
  12. ^ Whiting, Sam (2010-06-05). "Fred Lyon's photos of old San Francisco in show". SFGATE. Retrieved 2022-09-06.
  13. ^ "Nonagenarian Local Photographer Releases 'San Francisco Noir'". Hoodline. 2017-10-11. Retrieved 2022-09-05.
  14. ^ Amand, Lisa (2023-08-30). "Prolific Bay Area photographer Fred Lyon dies at 97". SFGate. Archived from the original on 2023-08-20. Retrieved 2024-02-03 – via web.archive.org.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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