Ruth Orkin: Women

Whether candid or posed, in black and white or color, Orkin’s photographs of women reveal her consistently sympathetic eye

In 1951, her photograph American Girl in Italy―depicting a young woman on a street flanked by whistling men―made Ruth Orkin (1921–85) a household name. Now, a new facet of her work emerges through sensational never-before-seen negatives and slides. Women illustrates Orkin’s devoted, humorous, witty and sensitive documentation of women’s life in the 1940s and 1950s. She records the illustrious goings-on in beauty salons and at cocktail parties, at dog shows and on Hollyw