Lanyon was born in Chicago to Howard and Ellen Lanyon. As a child she visited the "Midget Village" at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933, a rather surreal experience that had a strong impression on her as an artist. She attended Hyde Park High School and during this time held a part-time job as an artist in the foundry where her father worked, drawing machine parts. She credits her careful rendering of line to this experience.&lt;ref name="lanyon/pearlstein"&gt;&lt;/ref&gt;