“Memories of Myself” by Danny Lyon is a collection of beautiful photo-essays from one of the most original and influential American photographers. Lyon emerged in the early 1960s as a courageous participant and recorder of the civil rights movement, pioneering the ‘New Journalism’ style of photography. This new book presents a collection of Lyon’s photo essays, published in their complete form for the first time. Memories of Myself will be published by Phaidon Press in february 2009 and costs £45.00/ €75.00.

Phaidon Press Release

Memories of Myself - Danny Lyon

Published by Phaidon Press
Publication date: February 2009
Price: £45.00/ €75.00
www.phaidon.com

One of the most original and influential American photographers Lyon emerged in the early 1960s as a courageous participant and recorder of the civil rights movement in America. He pioneered the style of photographic ‘New Journalism’ when he rebelled against Life-magazine-style photographs, and instead immersed himself in the lives of his subjects, paving the way for a future generation of photographers such as Nan Goldin.

His best-known bodies of work, mostly in black and white, include The Bikeriders, a documentation of a Chicago outlaw motorcyle club that he photographed after joining them on the road, and Conversations with the Dead, a portrayal of life in the Texas prison system. Both projects were published and are among the most sought-after photobooks for collectors and photo-enthusiasts. A first edition of The Bikeriders can now be found on auction sites for over $2000 and both books are among Parr and Badger’s selection of the most important photobooks in history in Phaidon’s The Photobook: A History volume I.
This new book presents a collection of Lyon’s photo essays, published in their complete form for the first time, accompanied by texts written by Lyon in his own distinctive voice. These short bodies of work range from his early colour work made in Colombia in 1966 to his recent work made in Cuba. Sexy, edgy, visceral, and rough, most of this work has never been seen before and this book also includes lesser-known examples of Lyon’s work in colour.

Each of the nine photo essays includes 15 to 20 photographs, and the topics are many and varied. From his 1966 series on the women living in a brothel in a Colombian barrio to a humorous project on derby cars and their contestants from the late 1980s, to a series on the troubled youth living in the Bushwick neighbourhood of Brooklyn in the 1990s and a stunning colour series from Cuba in 2002. An introduction by Lyon gives an insight into his motivations and his career and an interview with the highly influential photography curator, Hugh Edwards, completes the portrait of this rebellious and important figure of American photography.

Danny Lyon has long been considered one of the most influential documentary photographers and has produced several highly collectable photobooks.  He has received much recognition for his work including two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Fellowship and ten National Endowment for the Arts awards. His work is in a number of major photography collections and he has had solo exhibitions at many museums including the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago. He recently was the subject of a retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2007.  He divides his time between New York State and New Mexico.

Hugh Edwards (1903–86) was an influential American curator of photography. Along with Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen and John Szarkowski, Edwards struggled to win the acceptance of fine art and documentary photography as art forms. Edwards was Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1959 until 1970.

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