Ruth Orkin was born on September 3, 1921, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Mary Ruby and Samuel Orkin.[2][3][4] Ruth grew up in Hollywood, due to her mother's career as a silent film actress.[5] In 1931, she received her first camera, a 39-cent Univex, and soon began experimenting by taking photographs of her friends and teachers at school.[6] At the age of 17, she decided to bike across America, beginning in Los Angeles, and ending in New York City for the 1939 World's Fair. She completed the trip in three weeks' time, taking photographs along the way.[7]
She briefly attended Los Angeles City College for photojournalism in 1940,[8] prior to becoming the first messenger girl at MGM Studios in 1941, citing a desire to become a cinematographer. She left the position after discovering the union's discriminatory practices that did not allow female members.[9][10] She joined the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps during World War II, in 1941[5] in an attempt to gain filmmaking skills, as advertisements promoting the group promised. The attempt was not fruitful, however, and she was discharged in 1943 without any filmmaking training.[8]
Photography
In 1943, Orkin moved to New York City in pursuit of a career as a freelance photojournalist. She began working as a nightclub photographer. She photographed Leonard Bernstein in 1947 for The New York Times.[11] Shortly after, her freelance career grew as she traveled internationally on assignments and contributed photographs to Life, Look,[12]Ladies' Home Journal, and others.[11] Orkin is credited with breaking into a heavily male field.
Orkin's most celebrated image is An American Girl in Italy (1951).[11] The subject of the now-iconic photograph was the 23-year-old Ninalee Craig (known at that time as Jinx Allen).[5] The photograph was part of a series originally titled "Don't Be Afraid to Travel Alone."[4] The image depicted Craig as a young woman confidently walking past a group of ogling Italian men in Florence. In recent articles written about the pair, Craig claims that the image was not staged, and was one of many taken throughout the day, aiming to show the fun of traveling alone.[13][14]
Attendees of a Ruth Orkin Retrospective in 2012
Filmmaking
In 1952 Orkin married photographer, filmmaker and fellow Photo League member Morris Engel. Orkin and Engel collaborated on two major independent feature films, "Little Fugitive" (1953) and "Lovers and Lollipops" (1955).[9] After the success of the two films, Orkin returned to photography, taking color shots of Central Park as seen through her apartment window. The resulting photographs were collected in two books, "A World Through My Window" (1978) and "More Pictures from My Window" (1983).[9]
She and husband Morris Engel had two children: Andy and Mary Engel.
After a long, private battle with cancer, Orkin died of the disease at her New York City apartment on January 16, 1985.[9]
Awards
Photography
3rd Prize Winner, LIFE Magazine's Young Photographer's Contest, 1951
One of Top Ten Women Photographers in the U.S., Professional Photographers of America, 1959
1st Annual Manhattan Cultural Award, Photography, 1980
Other
Certificate of Merit, Municipal Art Society of New York, 1984
Exhibits
Ruth Orkin: Retrospective. Lumier Brothers Center of Photography, Moscow. January, 2012 [1]
^Koszarski, Richard (2021). "Keep 'Em in the East": Kazan, Kubrick, and the Postwar New York Film Renaissance. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 336.
