Slideshow: Lutz Dille’s Toronto street photography, on display at the U of T Art Centre
Lutz Dille’s 1950s street photography captures characters from the city’s gritty past
By Simon Lewsen
When Lutz Dille immigrated to Toronto from Germany in 1951, he brought only $30 and his Leica IIIf camera. During the day, he worked in car washes and bowling alleys; at night, he slept at the Fred Victor Mission above the St. Lawrence Market, where he’d curl up around his camera to hide it from thieves. He got to know the city by shooting its residents. By the time he left Canada in 1980—he moved to Wales and later France, where he died in 2008—he’d built up a distinguished career as a documentary filmmaker and photojournalist, though he’s best known for his street shots, which have been collected by the National Gallery of Canada and the MoMA.
Like all great urban portraitists, Dille understood that a city’s character comes from the people who walk its streets. He communed with oddballs and grifters, always searching for new faces to shoot. The results, chronicled in a new exhibit at the University of Toronto Art Centre, capture some of the city’s most colourful personalities. A shrunken old man at a downtown flophouse struggles to keep his pants up. A guy outside Old City Hall rifles for newspapers in the trash. A rotund tattoo artist leans against his Kensington parlour, a black panther roaring on his chest. Each shot is blunt and spontaneous, casting a naked gaze on the people who occupied Toronto’s slums and shadows.
ART
Lutz Dille’s Toronto
University of Toronto Art Centre
Jan. 14 to March 8
See 7 Lutz Dille photos »
254582 <strong>1956:</strong> a pair of spectators at the Woodbine Racetrack (Photographs copyright estate of Lutz Dille, courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery) Lutz Dille's Toronto street photography, on display at the U of T Art Centre Lutz Dille's Toronto street photography, on display at the U of T Art Centre https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/lutz-dille-toronto-01-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/lutz-dille-toronto-01.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/lutz-dille-toronto-01.jpg 1000 667 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/lutz-dille-toronto-street-photography/slide/lutz-dille-toronto-01/ lutz-dille-toronto-01 0 0
(Photographs copyright estate of Lutz Dille, courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery)
254583 <strong>1954:</strong> a newsie hawks his papers downtown (Photographs copyright estate of Lutz Dille, courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery) Lutz Dille's Toronto street photography, on display at the U of T Art Centre Lutz Dille's Toronto street photography, on display at the U of T Art Centre https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/lutz-dille-toronto-02-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/lutz-dille-toronto-02.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/lutz-dille-toronto-02.jpg 1000 667 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/lutz-dille-toronto-street-photography/slide/lutz-dille-toronto-02/ lutz-dille-toronto-02 0 0
(Photographs copyright estate of Lutz Dille, courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery)
254584 <strong>Date unknown:</strong> Dille snapped some of his most wrenching shots in Toronto’s slums, as seen here (Photographs copyright estate of Lutz Dille, courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery) Lutz Dille's Toronto street photography, on display at the U of T Art Centre Lutz Dille's Toronto street photography, on display at the U of T Art Centre https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/lutz-dille-toronto-03-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/lutz-dille-toronto-03.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/lutz-dille-toronto-03.jpg 1000 667 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/lutz-dille-toronto-street-photography/slide/lutz-dille-toronto-03/ lutz-dille-toronto-03 0 0
(Photographs copyright estate of Lutz Dille, courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery)
254585 <strong>1964:</strong> A tattoo artist outside his parlour in Kensington Market (Photographs copyright estate of Lutz Dille, courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery) Lutz Dille's Toronto street photography, on display at the U of T Art Centre Lutz Dille's Toronto street photography, on display at the U of T Art Centre https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/lutz-dille-toronto-04-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/lutz-dille-toronto-04.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/lutz-dille-toronto-04.jpg 1000 667 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/lutz-dille-toronto-street-photography/slide/lutz-dille-toronto-04/ lutz-dille-toronto-04 0 0
(Photographs copyright estate of Lutz Dille, courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery)
254586 <strong>Date unknown:</strong> A man scrounges for <br />
newspapers outside <br />
Old City Hall (Photographs copyright estate of Lutz Dille, courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery) Lutz Dille's Toronto street photography, on display at the U of T Art Centre Lutz Dille's Toronto street photography, on display at the U of T Art Centre https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/lutz-dille-toronto-05-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/lutz-dille-toronto-05.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/lutz-dille-toronto-05.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/lutz-dille-toronto-street-photography/slide/lutz-dille-toronto-05/ lutz-dille-toronto-05 0 0
(Photographs copyright estate of Lutz Dille, courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery)
254587 <strong>Date unknown:</strong> A man scrounges for <br />
newspapers outside <br />
Old City Hall (Photographs copyright estate of Lutz Dille, courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery) Lutz Dille's Toronto street photography, on display at the U of T Art Centre Lutz Dille's Toronto street photography, on display at the U of T Art Centre https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/lutz-dille-toronto-06-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/lutz-dille-toronto-06.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/lutz-dille-toronto-06.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/lutz-dille-toronto-street-photography/slide/lutz-dille-toronto-06/ lutz-dille-toronto-06 0 0
(Photographs copyright estate of Lutz Dille, courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery)
254588 <strong>1959:</strong> a lodger at a downtown flophouse, probably near College and Spadina (Photographs copyright estate of Lutz Dille, courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery) Lutz Dille's Toronto street photography, on display at the U of T Art Centre Lutz Dille's Toronto street photography, on display at the U of T Art Centre https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/lutz-dille-toronto-07-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/lutz-dille-toronto-07.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/lutz-dille-toronto-07.jpg 1000 667 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/lutz-dille-toronto-street-photography/slide/lutz-dille-toronto-07/ lutz-dille-toronto-07 0 0
(Photographs copyright estate of Lutz Dille, courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery)
This looks great!