Peto regularly visited Dundee, photographing the city’s streets and people. ‘Foggy Day’ was taken at Whorterbank, Lochee, features one of the women wearing the famous jute ‘baffies’ and won a European award in 1960.

Photo-journalist Michael Peto worked with The Observer during the 1950s and ‘60s. His collection is a chronicle of an age – a spirited mix of arts and culture, politics, war and peace, social documentary and the emergence of twentieth celebrity culture. Peto had a very personal humanist style, seeking to record ‘the basic serenity of the human form’.

The collection was gifted to the University of Dundee by Peto’s stepson Michael Fodor and comprises some 130,000 prints and negatives. It is held by the University Archives.

2 thoughts on “The Peto Collection – A Foggy Day in Dundee

  1. The lady in the middle of the three was my grandmother, Helen Dillon m/s Golden.
    I believe the photograph was taken in Whorterbank, Lochee, Dundee where my grandmother lived.
    The area was a predominantly Irish are where immigrants had arrived from the mid/late 1800’s to work in the local jute mills.
    ai am led to believe that the University of Dundee have managed to identify the other two women in the picture as well.

    1. Thank you for this comment. That is fascinating. You are right about the location of the photograph, sadly we do not know the identity of the other two women but it is fantastic to know that the lady in the middle was your grandmother.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *