Dille was a street photographer, photojournalist, documentary photographer, and filmmaker. During the Second World War, Dille worked as a reconnaissance photographer for Germany. Based in Canada from 1951 to 1980, he lived in Hamilton, Toronto, and Montreal, and travelled frequently, producing lively street photographs and working on commissions for the CBC and other media outlets. In 1967, the National Film Board of Canada featured his work in the exhibition The Many Worlds of Lutz Dille.

Image: Lutz Dille, Jewish Market, Toronto, 1954, gelatin silver print, 18.4 x 24.1 cm.

For further reading, see:

Dille, Lutz, and Lorraine Monk. The Many Worlds of Lutz Dille. Ottawa: National Film Board of Canada, 1967.

Eberle, Martin. On the Street: Photographs of the 1950s and 1950s by Lutz Dille. Germany: Stadtisches Museum, 2004.

Kunard, Andrea. Photography in Canada: 1968–2000. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2017, 68.

Payne, Carol. The Official Picture: The National Film Board of Canada’s Still Photography Division and the Image of Canada, 1941–1971. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2013, 50.