Ruth at 100 / American Girl at 75
American Girl at 75
Ruth took her iconic photograph “American Girl in Italy” on August 22, 1951. We will be sharing diary entries, letters, photos and special items related to the upcoming 75th Anniversary of the photo in 2026!
Ruth at 100
This section honors Ruth Orkin’s Centennial year. She was born September 3, 1921.
Her resurgence continues with several traveling solo exhibitions in Europe and four books (see below) to celebrate her contributions to the worlds of photography and film.
NEW BOOKS
Ruth Orkin: Women. Hatje Cantz.
Ruth Orkin: Bike Trip, USA, 1939. Silvanaeditoriale.it (English version)
Ruth Orkin: Photofile. Thames and Hudson. (English version)
Ruth Orkin: A Photo Spirit. Hatje Cantz.
FILMS
Documentary – Mary Engel’s Ruth Orkin: Frames of Life. Password to access the film: Videos123
RUTH ORKIN: WOMEN ON THE MOVE
“This exhibition of 21 vintage photographs drawn from the museum’s collection of works by Ruth Orkin (b. 1921, Boston; d. 1985, New York City), explores women’s lives in the mid-20th century. The daughter of a film star, Orkin took glamour shots of Hollywood celebrities and also brought her camera into classrooms, homes, parks, and urban neighborhoods to capture a rich perspective on women who were forging new paths in postwar America.” — From the NMWA website
WASHINGTON, D.C., USA
National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA),
December 12, 2025 – March 29, 2026
RUTH ORKIN: THE ILLUSION OF TIME
Traveling exhibition organized and curated by Anne Morin, Director, di Chroma Photography
SANTANDER, SPAIN
Centro de Documentación de la Imagen de Santander (CDIS),
July 18 – October 18, 2025
CASCAIS, PORTUGAL
Centro Cultural de Cascais,
April 27 – July 7, 2024
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
Mai Mano, October 11, 2023 – January 14, 2024
TORINO, ITALY
Musei Reali Torino, 3/18/23 – 7/15/23
SAN SEBASTIAN, SPAIN
Kutxa Kultur Artgeunea, San Sebastián, Spain, July 7, 2022 – November 6, 2022
BASSANO, ITALY Museo Civico di Bassano, December 18, 2021 – May 22, 2022
RUTH ORKIN: BIKE TRIP, USA, 1939,
Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paris, France
September 19, 2023 – January 14, 2024
Exhibition organized by Clément Chéroux, director, Fondation HCB
RUTH ORKIN: WOMEN
Kunsthaus, Nürnberg,
October 3, 2025 – January 25, 2026
NÜRNBERG, GERMANY
Gallery of Fine Arts, Ostravia
March 6, 2024 – May 12, 2024
OSTRAVIA, CZECH REPUBLIC
Frierium, F3, Berlin, Germany
December 5, 2023 – Feburary 18, 2024
BERLIN, GERMANY
RUTH ORKIN: EXPRESSIONS OF LIFE,
Fotografiska, NYC
September 3, 2021 – December 5, 2021
RUTH ORKIN: A PHOTO SPIRIT, Frierium, F3, Berlin, Germany, September 4 – November 21, 2021
RUTH ORKIN: A CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION EXHIBITION, Photographs Do Not Bend, Dallas, TX, June 2021
RUTH ORKIN AT 100: A CELEBRATORY EXHIBITION, Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto, Canada, August 14 – September 18, 2021
Paul Smith Store, 88 Wooster Street, NYC – September 3, 2021
PRESS
Public Radio Interview: WNYC “All of It” with Alison Stewart
B&H Photo’s Explora Blog: A Photographic Legacy from Ruth Orkin to Her Daughter – June 6, 2020
Talk at The National Arts Club on the Engel/Orkin Archive – March 28, 2022
Reel of Ruth’s Retrospective at Museo Civic di Bassano
Television Interview – ABC NEWS – 10/4/21
Ruth Orkin: A Photo Spirit, Retrospective book published on September 3, 2021 by Hatje Cantz.
The Guardian, The big picture: Ruth Orkin’s modern New York woman, 1949 – July 2021
Print Interview – DIGILAND – April, 2021
East Bay Photo Collective Presentation – April 9, 2021
PARTNERSHIPS & ONLINE EXHIBITIONS
Hundred Heroines, London England – online exhibit
Milan Image Art Fair – miaart.it
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA – Modern Women/Modern Vision: Photogaphy from Bank of America Collection – October 02, 2022 – December 31, 2022
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY – Our Selves: Photographs by Women Artists from Helen Kornblum
April 16, 2022 – October 10, 2022
Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, NY – A Female Gaze
January 18, 2022 – April 16, 2022
National Gallery of Art – The New Woman Behind the Camera, October 31, 2021 – January 30, 2022
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY – The New Woman Behind the Camera
July 2 – October 31, 2021
Museum of Modern Art – The Helen Kornblum Collection, 2022.
“Essere Umane” exhibition, Museo San Domenico, Forli, Italy 9/17/21- 1/30/22
Galerie-Z22 “The Female Side of the Moon” Berlin, Germany
Howard Greenberg Gallery – Spring 2022
Ephemera
