1921-1985

Celebrated for her iconic and humanistic American Girl in Italy photo, Ruth Orkin produced a seminal body of work, A World Through My Window and More Pictures from My Window, from her Central Park home.  She first exhibited at a California camera store, then undertook a cross-country bicycle trip to the New York World’s Fair (1939).  Orkin attended The Photo League, worked as a freelance photographer for periodicals, and with her husband, made the films Little Fugitive, nominated for Best Picture (1953), and Lovers and Lollipops.  She was voted one of the Top Ten Women Photographers in the U.S.