Check out this reel of Ruth’s Retrospective at Museo Civic de Bassano, up until Mary 22, 2022, by clicking this link:
Mary Engel Presenting a Retrospective Talk on the Engel/Orkin Archive
The National Arts Club (March 28, 2022)
“When I was a little girl, my mother Ruth was larger than life. She told me to call her Ruth at a young age, so she could hear me in a crowd. She had a great personality, with lots of charisma, and people always said she had chutzpah. She was warm, but she could be tough and strong too. In my eyes, she had it all.”
—Mary Engel
Ruth Orkin (1921-1985) ventured into photography having received her first camera at the age of ten. As a middle school student she successfully skipped chemistry class in favor of mastering the dark room, and fell in love with the alchemy of photography.
A soundscape emanates from Orkin’s work, rising from the print to reach our inner ear. The sounds of children at play, the calm moments in a bustling train station, the turning of a bike wheel, a crowd in protest, the kisses exchanged by couples in dark bars and public benches. Orkin’s photographs are playful and jovial, giving the impression of lightheartedness, but her approach to her subjects affirm the depth of her artistic practice. She sought to capture life at its fullest, exploring the melody and motion of human breath and the songs that are born from it. Gestures and human expressions are ever present in her photographs. Her work reveals the extraordinary opera of seemingly ordinary life. Read more here.
Tanglewood Music Center, Lenox , MA – online exhibit
https://www.bso.org/brands/bso/about-us/historyarchives/tanglewood-virtual-exhibits.aspx
Hundred Heroines, London England – online exhibit
Leonard Bernstein Office, NYC
Central Park Conservancy, NYC – Instagram – @Centralparknyc
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Wash, DC
Milan Image Art Fair – miaart.it October 6 – 10
Photographs Do Not Bend, Dallas, TX- PDNB – June 2021
Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto, Canada – StephenBulgerGallery – August 2021
Paul Smith Store, 88 Wooster Street, NYC – September 3, 2021
Fotografiska, New York City – Fotografiska – September 3 – December 5, 2021
Frierium, F3, Berlin, Germany – fhochdrei.org – September 4 – November 21, 2021
Museo Civico di Bassano, Bassano del Grappo, Italy – diChroma Photography – December 18, 2021 – May 22, 2022
National Gallery of Art – Metropolitan Museum of Art
“The New Woman behind the Camera” opening July 2, 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
A retrospective book will be published on September 3 by Hatje Cantz.
https://loeildelaphotographie.com/en/hundred-heroines-ruth-orkin-fgh/
The article entitled “Continuity of Purpose: A Photographic Legacy from Ruth Orkin to Her Daughter” explores the relationship between Ruth Orkin and her daughter Mary, who now manages her mother’s legacy. You can read the full article over at the B&H website.
Click here to view a PDF of the article.
