The Bikeriders features fifty photographs from the iconic series on biker culture that acclaimed photographer Danny Lyon produced from 1963-67. With this influential series of photographs, Lyon pioneered a new approach: he photographed his subjects from the inside, rather than simply being an observer. In 1963, he joined the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club and, over the next four years, participated with the members on long-distance rides and at races, field meets and informal gatherings. Lyon became friends with his subjects and demystified a culture that was often stereotyped as a form of “low life.” Lyon’s book of photographs, also titled The Bikeriders, was published one year before the film Easy Rider.
In addition to bikers, Lyon has photo-documented the Southern Civil Rights Movement, death-row inmates, street kids, and the changing urban landscape of lower Manhattan. He has also produced a number of films and is considered an important influence on contemporary photographers Nan Goldin and Larry Clark.
All of the photographs in this exhibition are recent or promised gifts to the San Antonio Museum of Art from Ernest Pomerantz and Marie Brenner. The exhibition is curated by David S. Rubin, The Brown Foundation Curator of Contemporary Art, and is presented in conjunction with FotoSeptiembreUSA, San Antonio’s annual citywide photography festival. This exhibition is supported in part by The Amy Shelton McNutt Exhibition Endowment.
Related lecture: Danny Lyon: Working on the Edge by Anne Wilkes Tucker, the Gus and Lyndall Wortham Curator of Photography at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: Friday, September 27, 6:30 p.m.
Image:
Cal, Elkhorn, Wisconsin, 1966
Silver gelatin print
16 x 20 in.
© Danny Lyon/Magnum Photos
The San Antonio Museum of Art is housed in the historic Lone Star Brewery on the Museum Reach of the San Antonio Riverwalk. The collection contains more than 25,000 works representing 5,000 years of history and cultures from around the world.
