Michel Lambeth

In 2014, Canada Post released seven stamps honouring master photographers. Among them was Michel Lambeth`s photograph of St. Joseph's Convent School taken in 1960.

Library and Archives Canada hosted a major retrospective in 1986, Michel Lambeth: Photographer, curated by Michael Torosian. In celebration of the show, in 1987, Michael Torosian published the limited edition book Michel Lambeth: The Confessions of a Tree Taster, a memoir by Lambeth of his youth, his discovery of Europe, love and art. In 1989, Maia-Mari Sutnik for the Art Gallery of Ontario curated a large overview of his work as well as the accompanying catalogue, Michel Lambeth: Photographer with tributes by John Boyle, James Reaney, Joyce Wieland, and Avrom Isaacs. To celebrate the key role of the Isaacs Gallery and the artists associated with Avrom Isaacs and as part of a larger show titled Isaacs Seen consisting of four tributes to Isaacs in partnership with the University of Toronto Art Centre, Hart House (Justina M. Barnicke Art Gallery), and the Textile Museum of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario did an adjunct two-person show in 2005 titled Isaacs Seen: Two on the Scene of Michel Lambeth and Tess Taconis.

Lambeth died in 1977, leaving behind an archive of "thousands of negatives".

In 1972, he reacted to the hiring of an American chief curator at the Art Gallery of Ontario and, along with others, chained himself to office furniture in the premises then occupied by the gallery to gain attention in the media. In 1973, he worked for the Toronto Free Theatre as an associate artist but the fee was meagre. He continued his involvement in cultural politics, often against the Art Gallery of Ontario, protesting the Henry Moore Sculpture Centre, and a photography show organized by the Extension department, as well as protesting the National Film Board's Bicentennial project. In 1976, he found himself unable to find work and went on social assistance.

In 1962 to 1964, he photographed the community of the parish of St. Nil, Gaspé, Quebec, for Star Weekly, which did not publish it (the negatives were acquired later by the National Film Board's Still Photography Division). In 1965, Lambeth had a solo exhibition at the Isaacs Gallery. In 1967, he published a collection of historical photographs which turned out to be the work of Toronto City photographer Arthur Goss in his book, Made in Canada. In 1968, although the Star Weekly ceased publication, his work was included in group shows in the U.S.A. and France and in 1969, he was given a solo show at the National Film Board (today the Canadian Photography Institute at the National Gallery of Canada).

At the same time, he continued writing fiction. In 1959, he became a free-lance photographer full-time. He was published in Life, Star Weekly and Maclean's, as well as becoming a reviewer for magazines and photographing the Isaacs Group, artists affiliated with the Isaacs Gallery.

In 1955, he took up photography with a Rolleiflex (2¼ sq. format) camera and inspired by Toronto's Kensington and St. Lawrence Market districts, began an intensive study of the vibrant street life of Toronto. From 1956 to 1958, he worked with a Leica (35 mm) camera. His heroes in photography were individuals such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Brassai, and like them he sought to discover “the decisive moment” (as Cartier-Bresson called it in his landmark 1952 book, The Decisive Moment) in his subjects through his camera. His photographic work was described as European in style, conveying a human interest story, compassionately shown and told.

Michel Lambeth (April 21, 1923 – April 09, 1977) was a Canadian photographer. He made an in-depth photographic study of Toronto during the 1950s and was one of the country's leading photo-journalists during the 1960s.

Thomas Henry Lambeth was born in Toronto in 1923. After serving in the Canadian Armed Forces (1941–1944), he studied art in London and Paris (where he changed his name to “Michel”). In 1952, he returned to Canada an artist with a wife and an as yet undetermined path in making art. He worked at a day job as a clerk at City Hall in Toronto and experimented with film at night.