Career
- Books:
- A World Through My Window, Harper and Row, 1978
- A Photo Journal, The Viking Press, 1981
- More Pictures From My Window, Rizzoli, 1983
- Films:
- LITTLE FUGITIVE, 1953 Editor, Co-director and Co-writer Academy Award Nomination, Best Original Screenplay Silver Lion, Venice Film Festival
- LOVERS AND LOLLIPOPS, 1955 Editor, Co-producer, Co-director and Co-writer
- Awards:
- 3rd Prize Winner, Life magazine’s Young Photographer’s Contest, 1951
- Voted one of Top Ten Women Photographer’s in the U.S., Professional Photographers of America 1959
- 1st Annual Manhattan Cultural Award, Photography, 1980
- Certificate of Merit, Municipal Art Society of NY, 1984
- Instructor:
- School of Visual Arts, New York City, 1976-78
- International Center of Photography, New York City, 1980
- Chronology:
- 1921
- Born September 3, in Boston, Massachusetts
- 1931
- Receives first camera, 39 cent Univex
- 1935-39
- Attends Beverly Hills, Eagle Rock H.S.
- 1939
- Bicycle trip from LA to see 1939 World’s Fair in NYC
- 1940
- Attends LA City College for one year
- 1941
- First messenger girl at MGM Studios
- Joins Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps
- 1943
- Moves to New York, works as a nightclub photographer
- 1945
- 1st assignment for The NYTimes to shoot Leonard Bernstein
- 1945-52
- Intensive freelance career for Life, Look, This Week et.al. 1946-50
- Photographs classical musicians at Tanglewood Music Festival 1951
- Goes to Israel on press junket with Israeli Philharmonic
- In Florence, shoots her classic image American Girl in Italy
- 1952
- Marries Morris Engel in New York City
- 1953
- “Little Fugitive” nominated for Academy Award 1
- 1955
- Makes second award-winning film “Lovers and Lollipops”
- 1959
- Son Andy born, voted one of Top Ten Women Photographers
- 1961
- Daughter Mary born
- 1965
- Photography in the Fine Arts exhibit, Metropolitan Museum
- 1974
- First retrospective at Nikon House in NYC
- 1976-78
- Instructor, School of Visual Arts
- 1977
- First exhibition at The Witkin Gallery
- 1978
- “A World Through My Window”, Harper and Row
- 1981
- “A Photo Journal”, Viking Studio Press; photo-autobiography 1983
- “More Pictures From My Window”, Rizzoli
- 1985
- Dies January 16 in New York City
- Solo Exhibitions:
- 1974
- Nikon House, NY
- 1977
- Witkin Gallery, NY, Enjay Gallery, Boston
- 1978
- Milwaukee Ctr. of Photography, Milwaukee, Kiva Gallery, Boston
- 1979
- University of Akron, Ohio, Afterimage Gallery, Dallas, Texas
- 1979
- Rizzoli Gallery (thru 1985), NY
- 1980
- Atlanta Gallery of Photography, Atlanta, Georgia
- 1981
- Witkin Gallery, NY
- 1982
- Douglas Elliot Gallery, San Francisco, Rizzoli Gallery, Costa Mesa,
- 1983
- Equivalents Gallery, Seattle, Washington
- 1985
- Witkin Gallery, NY
- 1990
- Photo Gallery International, Tokyo, Japan
- 1994
- Witkin Gallery, NY
- 1995
- International Center of Photography, NY
- Group Exhibitions:
- 1950
- Young Photographers, Museum of Modern Art NY
- 1955
- The Family of Man, Museum of Modern Art, NY
- 1964
- The World and Its People, The World’s Fair, NY
- 1965
- Photography in the Fine Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
- 1978
- Photographic Crossroads: The Photo League, SUNY, New Paltz
- 1981
- Manhattan Observed, NY Historical Society
- 1985
- American Images, 1945-1980, Barbican Art Gallery, London
- 1985
- Collecting New York: Recent Acquisitions, Museum of City of NY
- 1986
- New York: The City and Its People, Working People’s Cultural Palace, Beijing, China
- 1986
- Cross Examinations, Mendocino Art Center, Mendocino, California
- 1987
- Masters of Starlight, LA County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
- 1987
- Diamonds are Forever: Artists and Writers on Baseball, NY State Museum, Albany 1988 Master Photographs from The Photography in the Fine Arts Exhibition, ICP, NY
- 1989
- The Human Element: B/W Photography, Cal State, Long Beach
- Articles (selected):
- Boston Herald “Engel, Orkin forged path for indies” —Paul Sherman 7/13/97
- Chicago Sun-Times “Orkin-This Woman Has Eyes” —David Elliott 12/16/79
- Dallas Times Herald “The World Beats a Path to Ruth Orkin’s Window” —Bill Marvel 10/24/79
- LA Weekly “The Films of Morris Engel with Ruth Orkin” 7/4/97
- Los Angeles Times “On Sidewalks of New York: Another Era’s Charm” —Susan King 7/10/97
- The Los Angeles Times, “We Are Not a Muse” —Burt Prelutsky 8/28/77
- The NY Times “Photographer Puts Her Career in Perspective” —Nan Robertson 10/5/79
- The NY Times “Candid or Contrived? The Making of a Classic” —Shaun Considine 4/30/95
- The NY Times “Beyond That Single, Famous Picture” —Charles Hagen 6/2/95
- Photo District News “Goldsmith and Orkin at ICP” —Bret Senft 7/95
- Popular Photography “Ruth Orkin: Gravure Portfolio” —Nancy Stevens, 6/77
- The Toronto Star “Out of the Picture: Bringing the Art of Ruth Orkin Back Into Focus” —Susan Walker 6/3/95
- Celebreties and Personalities photographed (1940′s – 1950′s)
- ACTRESSES
- Lauren Bacall
- Lucille Ball
- Eva Bartok
- Anne Baxter
- Shirley Booth
- Leslie Caron
- Katherine Cornell
- Marion Davis
- Doris Day
- Irene Dunne
- Nanette Fabray
- Gracie Fields
- Geraldine Fitzgerald
- Joan Fontaine
- Ava Gardner
- Barbara Bell Geddes
- Bonita Granville
- Julie Harris
- Dorothy McGuire
- Debbie Reynolds
- Marjorie Steel
- Gene Tierney
- Lana Turner
- Ethel Waters
- Teresa Wright
- ACTORS
- Fred Allen
- Woody Allen
- Humphrey Bogart
- Marlon Brando
- Montgomery Clift
- Wally Cox
- Gary Grant
- Rex Harrison
- Ronald Howard
- Van Johnson
- Danny Kaye
- Burt Lancaster
- Peter Lawford
- Fred MacMurray
- Fredric March
- Robert Montgomery
- David Niven
- Donald O’Connor
- Gerald O’Loughlin
- Basil Rathbone
- Red Skelton
- Robert Taylor
- Spencer Tracy
- Orson Welles
- DIRECTORS
- Vittorio Di Sica
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Elia Kazan
- Gutherie McClintoc
- Joseph Mankiewicz
- WRITERS
- W.H. Auden
- Ludwig Bemmelmans
- John Canada
- Carson McCullers
- Tennessee Williams
- OTHER
- Mel Allen
- Red Barber
- Gerald Brockhurst
- Albert Einstein
- Henry Wallace
- Special Events
- Opening night of “Member of the Wedding”
- On the set of “Streetcar Named Desire”
- Set of “I Love Lucy”
- Set of “Howdee Doody”
- Arthur Rubinstein and family
- Jackie Robinson and family
- 1960s
- Woody Allen
- Jimmy Breslin
- Carol Channing
- Kirk Douglas
- Jane Jacobs
- Paul O’Dwyer
- Carly Simon
- 1980′s
- Judy Collins
- COMPOSERS
- Samuel Barber
- Marc Blitzstein
- Benjamin Britten
- Aaron Copland
- Ulysses Kaye
- Darius Milhaud
- William Schuman
- Igor Stravinsky
- Virgil Thompson
- VIOLINISTS
- Mischa Elman
- Carol Glenn
- Jascha Heifetz
- Yehudi Menuhin
- Nathan Milstein
- Albert Spaulding
- Isaac Stern
- CONDUCTORS
- Sir Thomas Beecham
- Leonard Bernstein
- Pierre Boulez
- Sir Adrian Boult
- Walter Hendl
- Serge Koussevitzky
- Edmund Kurtz
- Lorin Maazel
- Dimitri Mitropoulos
- Pierre Monteux
- Eugene Ormandy
- Paul Paray
- Fritz Reiner
- Sigmund Romberg
- Alexander Smallens
- William Steinberg
- Leopold Stokowski
- PIANISTS
- Claudio Arrau
- Lukas Foss
- Gary Graffman
- Jose Iturbi
- William Kappell
- Oscar Levant
- Eugene Liszt
- Arthur Rubinstein
- VOCALISTS
- Marion Anderson
- Carol Brice
- Lotte Lehman
- Ezio Pinza
- Robert Rounseville
- Eleanor Steber