Heinrich Zille (1858-1929) captured his Berlin milieu not only with a sharp pen but also in hundreds of photographs. As a trained lithographer, he possessed the necessary technical knowledge, and as a passionate and precise observer, he noticed—and recorded—what the fleeting glance overlooks or prefers to ignore: the conditions in the poor neighborhoods of Berlin, backyards, wooden fences, and dumps, the distillery at the street corner, children's playgrounds, and Sunday fairs, the hustle and bustle of market women, and scenes of demolition. One searches in vain for the grand buildings of Wilhelmine Berlin in Zille's work, as well as the picturesque corners typical of the booming metropolis at that time. The earliest photographs date back to around 1890. Zille used his images as templates for the drawings and graphic works that made him so popular.