Her American Girl in Italy -the street scene with the whistling Italians-is an icon. Now
sensational negatives and slides have surfaced from the archive that reveal a little-known side
of Ruth Orkin: that of the sensitive interested witty chronicler of the women's world of the
1940s and 1950s. Orkin thought up editorials like the tongue-in-cheek reportage Who works
harder ? comparing the lives of a career woman and a housewife. She documented the hustle and
bustle in beauty salons and at cocktail parties at dog shows and on Hollywood film sets. We
meet Lauren Bacall Jane Russell Joan Taylor or Doris Day but also waitresses stewardesses
and female soldiers as wall as groups of female friends. What emerges is the image of women
on the move women who are beginning to cast off the conventions imposed on them going their
own way: self-confident stylish smart. American photographer photojournalist and filmmaker
RUTH ORKIN (1921-1985) grew up in Hollywood as the daughter of a silent film actress. She went
on to be one of the first women to study photojournalism at Los Angeles City College. In 1943
Orkin moved to New York City working as a freelance photojournalist. Her photographs appeared
in The New York Times LIFE Look Ladies' Home Journal and other publications. On the
occasion of what would have been her 100th birthday exhibitions were held across Europe and
North America. In 2021 Hatje Cantz published A Photo Spirit dedicated to her pioneering work.
