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Biography
Boston-born Ruth Orkin grew up in Los Angeles, and the movie industry and music were both formative influences. She attended Los Angeles City College briefly in 1940 before becoming the first female studio messenger ever hired at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the early 1940s; but with no hope for promotion, she joined the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps, tempted by the promise (empty, as it turned out) that she would be taught cinematography. After completing her service in 1943, she moved to New York and worked as a nightclub photographer. Orkin honed her skills in portraiture by spending the summer of 1946 documenting the Tanglewood Music Festival; later that year, LOOK published her first major photo essay, "Jimmy, the Storyteller." She sent the series to Edward Steichen at the Museum of Modern Art in 1947, and he subsequently included her in every group photography show at the museum until his retirement, including the great 1955 exhibition, The Family of Man. Orkin married photographer Morris Engel in 1952, and the couple collaborated on a prize-winning film, Little Fugitive. Their filmmaking endeavors continued through the mid-1950s, and while Orkin continued to photograph, she admitted that still photography "held little interest" after her experience of making a film. Her views of Central Park, taken from her apartment, were published in the 1978 book A World Outside My Window. American girl in Italy, Florence, 1951 Man in the rain, New York City, 1952 Marlon Brando on the set of “Julius Caesar”, 1952 Alfred Hitchcock on the set of “I Confess”, Hollywood, California, 1952 Robert Capa in Paris, France, 1951 White stoops, New York City, 1952 Albert Einstein at Princeton Luncheon, New Jersey, 1953 Boy jumping into Hudson River, New York City, 1948 Woody Allen at The Met, New York City, 1963 Central Park South Silhouette, New York City, 50's Jinx in goggles, Florence, 1951 The cardplayers, New York City, 1947 Ruth Orkin was born in 1921 in Boston, Massachussetts. The daughter of Mary Ruby, a silent film actress, and of Samuel Orkin, a toy boat manufacturer, she grew up in Hollywood in the golden years of the twenties and the thirties. At ten she was given her first camera, a 39 cent Univex, and she began snapping her friends and teachers at school. When she was 17 Ruth made a long bicycle trip from Los Angeles to New York to visit the Universal Exhibition of 1939. Bringing her camera always with her, she took photos in Washington, Chicago and Boston. In 1943 she moved to New York where she began to work for well-known magazines. Always an enthusiast of music and film, she photographed musicians in concert, actors and famous people. In 1951, thanks to LIFE magazine, she travelled to Israel to follow the Israeli Philharmonic. Subsequently she went to Florence where she met Nina Lee Craig, an American art history student who became the protagonist of American Girl in Italy. The photographer returned to New York and joined the Photo League, where she met Morris Engel, whom she married in 1952. Together they produced two feature films, including the classic Little Fugitive. In 1959 her son Andy was born, and their second child Mary was born in 1961. Between 1976 and 1978 Orkin taught in New York in the School of Visual Arts and in 1980 in the International Center “…If my photographs make the viewer feel what I did when I first took them – then I’ve accomplished my purpose.” – Ruth Orkin One of the finest photographers of her time, Ruth Orkin was an award-winning photojournalist and filmmaker, whose deeply absorbing images capture the charm and intrigue of quotidian life. 'Couple in MG', Florence, 1951 She was just ten years old when she received her first camera, which she used to photograph her school friends and teachers. At 17, she cycled across the United States, to New York City, (to see the 1939 World’s Fair) photographing prolifically along the way. 'Comic book readers', NYC, 1947 'Mother and daughter', Penn Station, NYC, 1947 'Couple under marquee', NYC, 1948 Their recruitment adverts promised the opportunity to learn filmmaking, but once again, Orkin was left disappointed, and after being honorably discharged, she decided to become a photojournalist, as, in her own words ‘There wasn’t any union to keep out women’. 'Jewish refugees', Lydda Airport, 1951 American photographer and filmmaker Ruth Orkin (September 3, 1921 – January 16, 1985) was an American photographer, photojournalist, and filmmaker, with ties to New York City and Hollywood. Best known for her photograph An American Girl in Italy (1951), she photographed many celebrities and personalities including Lauren Bacall, Doris Day, Ava Gardner, Tennessee Williams, Marlon Brando, and Alfred Hitchcock. Ruth Orkin was born on September 3, 1921, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Mary Ruby and Samuel Orkin. Ruth grew up in Hollywood, due to her mother's career as a silent film actress. 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. 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. She briefly attended Los Angeles City College for photojournalism in 1940, 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. She joined the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps during World War II, in 1941 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. 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. Shortly after, her freelance career grew as she trave
Orkin's photography is a celebration of fearlessness and vitality. While she accepted specific assignments from The New York Times and various magazines, she also had the freedom to work independently, creating photo essays and photographing famous people with the knowledge that she would be able to sell the resulting work. Like a film director, Orkin created images that appear to be private moments, and lends a Hollywood-style personality to her subjects and landscapes.
Meredith Fisher
Handy et al. Reflections in a Glass Eye: Works from the International Center of Photograph Biographical notes
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Orkin was born in Boston, MA, in 1921, to Mary Ruby, a silent-film actress, and Samuel Orkin, a manufacturer of toy boats. The family relocated to Hollywood when Orkin was still very young, and her formative decades coincided with the rise of the US film industry, which was galvanized by the economic prosperity of the time.
The world of film, however, was Orkin’s true passion, and after briefly enrolling in Los Angeles City College, she joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as their first female studio messenger. She had hoped to learn cinematography but soon discovered that the cinematographers’ union did not allow female members, and so, during the Second World War, she left and enlisted in the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps.
She relocated to New York City and found work as a nightclub pho Ruth Orkin
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