Casparus Bernardus Oorthuys (1 November 1908 – 22 July 1975), known as Cas Oorthuys, was a Dutch photographer and designer. Oorthuys first took up photography after he joined the free-thinking Dutch Association of Abstinent Students in the architecture department of the Haarlem MTS.
In 1936, Oorthuys became permanent photographer at De Arbeiderspers. He produced photography and graphics for communist and anti-fascist organizations; and in the tradition of “workers’ photography” he documented poverty, police violence, the unemployed, homeless people and evictions for magazines, book illustrations and book covers and exhibitions.
During the German Occupation, Oorthuys became involved in the Personal Identification Centre established in 1942 and made passport photos for fake ID cards. In May 1944, Oorthuys was arrested by the Germans and imprisoned in camp Amersfoort. Unexpectedly, he was released again in August. On release Oorthuys connected with De Ondergedoken Camera and documented the activities of the German occupiers, and also the awful Hongerwinter, the Dutch famine of 1944–45. During the postwar recovery he recorded the Nuremberg war crimes trials and the rebuilding of his homeland.
Take a look at London in the 1950s through these 23 stunning black and white photographs taken by Oorthuys:
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| Oxford Street |
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| Regent Street |
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| Lower Regent Street |
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| Middle Temple Lane |
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| An orderly queue for the number 8 bus at London Bridge Station |
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| Northern Line |
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| Bull and Mouth, Aldersgate |
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| Blowing soap bubbles |
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| High Holborn |
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| Lombard Street |
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| Piccadilly Circus |
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| Pensioners’ rally at Trafalgar Square |
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| Outside the Ritz, Piccadilly |
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| George Tippins newspaper seller, Piccadilly |
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| Fleet Street |
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| Berwick Street market |
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| Caledonian Market |
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| Bank of England |
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| Shop in Rupert Street |
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| St Paul’s Cathedral |
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| Prince of Wales Theatre |
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| Trafalgar Square |
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| Trafalgar Square at night |