{{Short description|American photographer (1924–2022)}} {{Infobox person | name = Fred Lyon | birth_name = Frederick George Lyon Jr. | birth_date = {{Birth date|1924|09|27}} | birth_place = San Francisco, California, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2022|08|22|1924|09|27}} | death_place = San Francisco, California, U.S. | education = ArtCenter College of Design | years_active = 1940s–2017 | known_for = Photography | spouse = Anne (née Murray),<br/> Penelope Whelan Rozis | children = 2 | website = {{Official website|https://www.fredlyon.com/}} }}
'''Fred Lyon''' (September 27, 1924 – August 22, 2022) was an American photographer.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Syken |first=Bill |date=2022-03-25 |title=West Coast Wonderful: The Photography of Fred Lyon |url=https://www.life.com/arts-entertainment/west-coast-wonderful-the-photography-of-fred-lyon/ |access-date=2022-08-31 |magazine=LIFE |language=en-US}}</ref> He was known for shots of foggy San Francisco,<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=August 2017 |title=The Fog |work=Nob Hill Gazette |issue=39 |url=https://www.nobhillgazette.com/departments/the-fog/article_74063a35-91c3-5db2-a496-11c1b561f534.html |oclc=41328641}}</ref> and photos of San Francisco life from the 1940s to the 1960s.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2014-11-07 |title='Love Letter To San Francisco' Photo Exhibit Opens Tomorrow |url=https://hoodline.com/2014/11/love-letter-to-san-francisco-photo-exhibit-opens-tomorrow/ |access-date=2022-09-05 |website=Hoodline |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=Fred Lyon: Living Through the Lens |url=https://www.kqed.org/trulyca/102/fred-lyon-living-through-the-lens |access-date=2022-09-06 |website=KQED |date=5 October 2014 |language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Whiting |first=Sam |date=2016-08-03 |title=Fred Lyon's midcentury SF photos get their due |url=https://www.sfgate.com/art/article/Fred-Lyon-s-midcentury-SF-photos-get-their-due-9108287.php |access-date=2022-09-06 |website=SFGATE |language=en-US}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":1" />
== Early life and education == Fred Lyon was born on September 27, 1924, at St. Luke's Hospital in San Francisco, California.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Amand |first=Lisa |date=2022-08-30 |title='His DNA was in San Francisco': Photographer Fred Lyon dies at 97 |url=https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/sf-photographer-fred-lyon-obituary-17407578.php |access-date=2022-08-31 |website=SFGATE |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Whiting |first=Sam |date=2022-09-09 |title=The negatives sat for years in a file cabinet. They turned him into a star S.F. photographer at age 80 |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/fred-lyon-photographer-17428964.php |access-date=2022-09-11 |website=San Francisco Chronicle |language=en-US}}</ref> His father had farming interests and a 18,000-acre ranch in the San Joaquin Valley.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |last=Keown |first=Don |date=February 21, 1976 |title=Photographer Fred Lyon's Job: Seduce Our Jaded Senses |pages=33–34 |work=San Rafael Independent Journal |issn=0745-9319}}</ref> He was raised in San Carlos and Burlingame.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-09-17 |title=A Conversation With Fred Lyon, San Francisco Photographer Since The 1940s |url=https://hoodline.com/2016/09/a-conversation-with-fred-lyon-san-francisco-photographer-since-the-1940s/ |access-date=2022-09-05 |website=Hoodline |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":6" /> He got his first camera at age 12.<ref name=":6" /> 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.<ref name=":3" />
After high school at age 17, he enrolled at Art Center School in Los Angeles (now ArtCenter College of Design).<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":6" /> One summer Lyon studied under Ansel Adams, who taught at ArtCenter.<ref name=":0" />
== Career == 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,<ref name=":6" /> but instead he worked as a military photographer.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":0" /> In his role as military photographer, Lyon photographed the Roosevelt family portrait,<ref name=":6" /> and was witness to Harry S. Truman’s first day as president.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Brekke |first=Dan |date=August 28, 2022 |title=Fred Lyon, Renowned San Francisco Photographer, Dies at Age 97 |url=https://www.kqed.org/news/11923869/fred-lyon-renowned-san-francisco-photographer-dies-at-age-97 |access-date=2022-08-31 |website=KQED |language=en-us}}</ref>
After the war he lived in New York City, working as a fashion photographer.<ref name=":0" /> In either 1947 or 1948, he had his first photo magazine assignment for Homes and Gardens.<ref name=":3" /> He briefly worked for fashion houses in New York City, as well as worked as a freelance photographer for Vogue, Glamour, and Life magazines.<ref name=":2" /> His first wife was model Anne (née Murray), who posed in many of his early images.<ref name=":0" />
The couple eventually moved to San Francisco.<ref name=":0" /> In 1949, he had a solo exhibition titled, ''Photographs by Fred G. Lyon, Jr.'' at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IT87AQAAIAAJ |title=Fortnight: The Newsmagazine of California, Volumes 6-7 |date=1949 |publisher=O. D. Keep |pages=5 |language=en}}</ref> In the 1950s, Lyon socialized with Richard Diebenkorn and other painters within the Bay Area Figurative Movement.<ref name=":1" /> 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.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" /> Lyon had a love of both old San Francisco, as well as the newer version of the city.<ref name=":4" />
Lyon also had a special interest in photographing vineyards and wineries in nearby Napa and Sonoma.<ref name=":4" /> In 2013, the film documentary ''Fred Lyon: Living Through the Lens'' was made by filmmaker Michael House.<ref name=":5" />
His last photo was taken when he was in his 90s in 2017 of the 500 Club bar sign in the Mission District.<ref name=":6" />
== Personal life and death == {{Quote box | quote = "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." | author = Fred Lyon | source = <ref name=":4"/> | width = 35% }} Lyon's first wife Anne (née Murray), a fashion model, died in 1989.<ref name=":0" /> They had two sons, Michael and Gordon.<ref name=":0" /> In the 1970s Lyon lived in Sausalito, California.<ref name=":3" />
In 2003, Lyon married interior designer Penelope Whelan Rozis.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Whiting |first=Sam |date=2010-06-05 |title=Fred Lyon's photos of old San Francisco in show |url=https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Fred-Lyon-s-photos-of-old-San-Francisco-in-show-3186154.php |access-date=2022-09-06 |website=SFGATE |language=en-US}}</ref> For many years he lived in the Cow Hollow neighborhood of San Francisco.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-10-11 |title=Nonagenarian Local Photographer Releases 'San Francisco Noir' |url=https://hoodline.com/2017/10/nonagenarian-local-photographer-releases-san-francisco-noir/ |access-date=2022-09-05 |website=Hoodline |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":4" />
Lyon died on August 22, 2022, in his home in San Francisco, he had lung cancer.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" /> SFGate remembered him as someone with "one of the longest, most prolific careers of any 20th century photographer."<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Amand |first=Lisa |date=2023-08-30 |title=Prolific Bay Area photographer Fred Lyon dies at 97 |url=https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/sf-photographer-fred-lyon-obituary-17407578.php |access-date=2024-02-03 |website=SFGate |via=web.archive.org |archive-date=2023-08-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230820153821/https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/sf-photographer-fred-lyon-obituary-17407578.php |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>
== Publications ==
* {{Cite book |last1=Draper |first1=Margaret F. |title=Ballet for Beginners |last2=Atkinson |first2=Nancy |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |others=Fred Lyon (photography) |year=1952}} * {{Cite book |last=Lyon |first=Fred |title=A Week In Windley's World: Hawaii |publisher=Collier-Macmillan |year=1970 |isbn=9780027615005 |series=Face to Face Series}} * {{Cite book |last1=Gillette |first1=Peter |title=Playboy's Book Of Wine |last2=Gillette |first2=Paul |publisher=The Ridge Press, Inc. |others=Fred Lyon (photography), Playboy Press |year=1974 |isbn=978-0872234116}} * {{Cite book |last=Lyon |first=Fred |title=San Francisco Noir: Photographs by Fred Lyon |publisher=Princeton Architectural Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-1616896515}} * {{Cite book |last=Lyon |first=Fred |title=Vineyards: Photographs by Fred Lyon |publisher=Princeton Architectural Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-1616898489}} * {{Cite book |last=Meza |first=Philip E. |title=Inventing the California Look: Interiors by Frances Elkins, Michael Taylor, John Dickinson, and Other Design Innovators |publisher=Rizzoli Press |others=Fred Lyon (photography), Jared Goss (forward) |year=2022 |isbn=978-0847871520}} * {{Cite book |last=Unterberger |first=Richie |title=San Francisco. Portrait of a City |publisher=TASCHEN |others=Fred Lyon (photography) |year=2022 |isbn=9783836574853 |editor-last=Golden |editor-first=Reuel}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Further reading ==
* [https://www.analogforevermagazine.com/features-interviews/fred-lyon-75-years-of-photography Interview: Fred Lyon - 75 Years of Photography] (2019), Analog Forever Magazine * [https://therumpus.net/2012/03/08/the-rumpus-interview-with-fred-lyon/ Interview: The Rumpus Interview with Fred Lyon] (2012), The Rumpus
== External links == * {{Official website|https://www.fredlyon.com/}} * {{IMDb name|id=nm5469066}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyon, Fred}} Category:1924 births Category:2022 deaths Category:American photojournalists Category:Photographers from San Francisco Category:ArtCenter College of Design alumni Category:People from Burlingame, California Category:People from Sausalito, California Category:Military personnel from San Francisco Category:Deaths from lung cancer in California Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II