Accession Number
2014/2.293

Title
Gaucho field meet, Chicago

Artist(s)
Danny Lyon

Artist Nationality
American (North American)

Object Creation Date
1965; printed 2008

Medium & Support
gelatin silver print on paper

Dimensions
11 in x 14 in (27.94 cm x 35.56 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James Agah, Class of 1989 (BBA)

Label copy
Postwar street photographers such as Elliott Erwitt often revel in suggesting subtle visual ironies betweee people and inanimate objects. His somber image of a young boy in Colorado, whose right eye is positioned behind the center of a shattered window, associate the fragility of the glass with the vulnerability of youth. In contrast, in Las Vegas, Erwitt photographs the interaction between a stoic woman and a lifelike, cowboy-shaped slot machine through a glass door labelled "PUSH." In doing so, Erwitt renders the kitschy artifice and disorienting mirrored spaces of a Las Vegas casino simultaneously fantastical and humorous.

Danny Lyon emphasizes the humanity of his subjects while at the same time immersing himself in their world. In his 1965 image of anmother and son hesitantly smiling through a car window, Lyon's reflection in the glass fuses the image of the photographer and those of his captive subjects.

Joel Meyerowitz takes a more aloof approach to documentary photography in his image of the Catskill Mountain resort where he worked as a waiter as an undergraduate, later returning as a newly minted professional photographer. Frames within frames are a key pictorial device for Meyerowitz, who here uses a three-paned glass wall to divide his poolside picture into a grid of symmetrical bays, interrupted by an unexpected lone foot rising above the central lounge chair to catch the sun.

Subject matter
The Bikeriders series began in 1963 when Danny Lyon attended a motorcycle rally in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. He captured a group of bikers on Route 12 and at the rally, quickly showing them to Hugh Edwards. Edwards encouraged his work, and Lyon continued to take photographs of the bikers. Lyon became part of the Chicago Outlaws, documenting them over the next four years. In 1968, The Bikeriders was published for the first time, becoming the second publication to use text transcribed from tape recordings. Many of the images were originally shot in color, printed in black and white for the publication, and since re-printed almost exclusively in black and white.

Physical Description
A photograph of a boy wearing a hat and a woman who look at the camera through the window of a car. They sit inside the car, the photographer's reflection and surrounding trees are visible on the exterior windows of the automobile. 

Primary Object Classification
Photograph

Collection Area
Photography

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form. Keywords
automobiles
boys
hats
reflections (perceived properties)
women (female humans)