# Fred Lyon

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> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Lyon
> Source revision: 1312222048
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{{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](/source/San_Francisco), [California](/source/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](/source/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](/source/San_Francisco),<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=August 2017 |title=The Fog |work=[Nob Hill Gazette](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Brassa%C3%AF).<ref name=":1" />

== Early life and education  ==
Fred Lyon was born on September 27, 1924, at [St. Luke's Hospital](/source/St._Luke's_Hospital_(San_Francisco%2C_California)) 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](/source/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](/source/San_Carlos%2C_California) and [Burlingame](/source/Burlingame%2C_California).<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](/source/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](/source/ArtCenter_College_of_Design)).<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":6" /> One summer Lyon studied under [Ansel Adams](/source/Ansel_Adams), who taught at ArtCenter.<ref name=":0" />

== Career ==
After the [Pearl Harbor](/source/Pearl_Harbor) attack, around 1943, Lyon dropped out of college and enrolled in the [United States Navy](/source/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](/source/Roosevelt_family) portrait,<ref name=":6" /> and was witness to [Harry S. Truman](/source/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](/source/Homes_%26_Gardens).<ref name=":3" /> He briefly worked for fashion houses in New York City, as well as worked as a freelance photographer for [Vogue](/source/Vogue_(magazine)), [Glamour](/source/Glamour_(magazine)), and [Life](/source/Life_(magazine)) 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](/source/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](/source/Richard_Diebenkorn) and other painters within the [Bay Area Figurative Movement](/source/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](/source/Mission_District%2C_San_Francisco).<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](/source/Sausalito%2C_California), 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](/source/Cow_Hollow%2C_San_Francisco) 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](/source/Hoodline) |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":4" />

Lyon died on August 22, 2022, in his home in San Francisco, he had [lung cancer](/source/lung_cancer).<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" /> [SFGate](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Fred Lyon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Lyon) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Lyon?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.