Danny Lyon is highly regarded as one of the most influential documentary photographers of the last five decades. Paralleling the style of 1960s “New Journalism” made famous by writers such as Joan Didion, Hunter S. Thompson, and Tom Wolfe, Lyon is known for immersing himself in the communities of the subjects he photographs. One of those was the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Clubthe with whom he spent two years on the road. The resulting photographic series and book, The Bikeriders, is the inspiration for a new feature film of the same title opening this summer.
First published in 1968, The Bikeriders, documents the lives and journeys of the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club in photographs and interviews from 1963 to 1967. Lyon was a motorcycle rider himself, and when he went to a meeting of the Outlaws in a bar, one of them asked him to join the club. Authentic and personal, Lyon’s depiction of the outliers of society portrays a gritty but humanistic view that contrasts from the commercialized image of America at the time.
SPREADS FROM THE BIKERIDERS BY DANNY LYON
Lyon began his career in the early 1960s documenting the Civil Rights movement for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. A few of his other books include The Movement (1964), The Destruction of Lower Manhattan (1969), Conversations with the Dead (1971), Knave of Hearts (1999), Like a Thief’s Dream (2007), and Deep Sea Diver (2011). Widely exhibited and collected, Lyon has been awarded Guggenheim Fellowships twice and National Endowment for the Arts grants ten times.
Written and directed by Jeff Nichols, the feature film The Bikeriders opens in theaters this June and stars Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, and Mike Faist.
AUSTIN BUTLER STARS IN THE BIKERIDERS
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