Solo Exhibitions:

Nikon House, New York, NY (1974)

Witkin Gallery, New York, NY (1977)

Enjay Gallery, Boston, MA (1977)

Milwaukee Center of Photography, WI (1978)

Kiva Gallery, Boston, MA (1978)

International Center of Photography, New York, NY (1979)

University of Akron, Akron, OH (1979)

Rizzoli Bookstore. Chicago, IL (1979)

Rizzoli Bookstore (thru 1985), New York, NY (1979)

Afterimage Gallery. Dallas, TX (1979)

Atlanta Gallery of Photography, Atlanta, GA (1980)

Witkin Gallery, New York, NY (1981)

Douglas Elliot Gallery. San Francisco. CA (1982)

Rizzoli Bookstore, Costa Mesa, Chicago. IL (1982)

Equivalents Gallery. Seattle, WA (1983)

Witkin Gallery, NYC(1985)

Photo Gallery International, Tokyo. Japan (1988)

Witkin Gallery, New York, NY (1994)

International Center of Photography. New York, NY (1995)

Michael H. lord Gallery, Milwaukee, WI (1998)

Irving Galleries, Palm Beach, FL (1998)

Jan Kesner Gallery, Los Angeles. CA (1999)

Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, NY (1999)

Group Exhibitions:

Young Photographers, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (1950)

The Family of Mon, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (1955)

The World and Its People. The World’s Fair. New York, NY (1964)

Photography in the Fine Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (1965)

Photographic Crossroads: The Photo League, International Center of Photography (1978)

Manhattan Observed. New York Historical Society, New York, NY (1981)

Art of the Olmstead Landscape. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (1981)

American Images, 1945- 1980. Barbican Art Gallery. London. England (1985)

Collecting New York: Recent Acquisitions. Museum of the City of New York (1985)

New York: The City and Its People. Working People’s Palace, Beijing, China (1986)

Cross Examinations. Mendocino Art Center, CA (1986)

Women Photographers Now, A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY (1986)

Masters of Starlight, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA (1987)

Diamonds are Forever: Artists and Writers on Baseball. NY State Museum (1987)

Master Photographs from ‘Photography in the Fine Arts’ Exhibition 1959-1967,

International Center of Photography, New York, NY (1988)

The Human Element: Black and White Photography. California State University. Long Beach, CA (1989)

A History of Women Photographers, The New York Public Library, New York, NY (1997)

Defining Eye: Women Photographers of the 20th Century. St. Louis Art Museum (1997)

The American Century, Art & Culture. 1900-1950,Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (1999)

Selected Museum Collections:

Amon Carter Museum, Houston, TX

Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ

International Center of Photography, New York, NY

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Milwaukee Museum of Art, Milwaukee, WI

Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY

Museum of Fine Art, Houston, TX

Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

Museum of Art, Hamburg, Germany

New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA

New York Historical Society, New York, NY

Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA

St. Louis Art Museum, St, Louis, MO

Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA

Yale University Art Museum, New Haven, CT

Books:

A World Through My Window, Harper and Row, (1978)

A Photo journal, A Studio Book, The Viking Press, (1981)

More Pictures From My Window, Rizzoli, (1983)

Ruth Orkin: A Retrospective, The Estate of Ruth Orkin, (1995)

Awards:

3rd-Prize Winner, LIFE magazine’s first “Young Photographer’s Contest,” (1951)

Voted one of “Top Ten Woman Photographer’s in the US” by Professional Photographers of America Poll, (1959)

1st Annual Manhattan Cultural Award in Photography, (1980)

Certificate of Merit, The Municipal Art Society of NY, (1984)

Teaching:

School of Visual Arts, New York, NY, (1976-1978)

International Center of Photography, New York, NY, (1980)

Selected Publications

Camera 35, “Frontier Woman,” by Sarah Webb Barrell, May 1975

Chicago Sun- Times, “Orkin -This Woman Has Eyes,” by David Elliot, December 16, 1979

Harper’s Bazaar, “Over 40 in the Arts,” by Sheila Feldman, September 1982

Los Angeles Times, “The Unexpected in the Everyday,” by David Pagel, March 12, 1999

Milwaukee journal Sentinel, “A Gift for Knowing Just When to Click,” by James Auer, January 28, 1998

Popular Photography, “Ruth Orkin: Gravure Portfolio,” by Nancy Stevens, June 1977

The New York Times, “Candid or Contrived? The Making of a Classic,” by Shaun Considine, April 30, 1995

The New York Times, “Beyond that Single, Famous Picture,” by Charles Hagen, June 2, 1995

The Toronto Stat; “Out of the Picture: Bringing the Art of Ruth Orkin Back to Focus,” by Susan Walker, June 3, 1995

Films

LITTLE FUGITIVE, 1953

Editor, Co-director and Co-writer

National Film Registry, Library of Congress, 1997

Academy Award Nomination for Best Motion Picture Story

Silver Lion, Venice Film Festival

Edinburgh Film Festival

Melbourne Film Festival

Montevideo Festival

The Ten Best Films of 1953: National Board of Review, New York Herald Tribune,

Look, This Week, New York Daily News

LOVERS AND LOLLIPOPS, 1955

Editor, Co-producer, Co-director and Co-writer

Venice Film Festival

Selected Film Screenings

The Museum of Modern Art: Cineprobe, 1984. 25 Years of Independent Narratives. (1949-1973), 1985 Sixtieth Anniversary Program, Filmmakers and the Archive, 1995

Whitney Museum of American Art, at Philip Morris. Cinematic Urban Pleasures: New York, 1986

NYC Mayor’s Office of Film. Theatre and Broadcasting, Encores: Great American Films Made in New York. Mark Goodson Theater & MOMA, 1986

American Federation of the Arts, Moving Pictures: Films by Photographers. 1990 (traveled to 30 venues)

The Brooklyn Museum, From Vitagraph to Spike Lee: Brooklyn on Film, 1992

Donnell Media Center, Cine-City: New York on Film and Video. 1996

Nantucket Film Festival. Massachusetts. 1996

American Film Institute Los Angeles International Film Festival. Los Angeles, 1997

The Avignon/New York Film Festival. 1997 1

American Museum of the Moving Image. Indie NY. 1998

The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Defining Eye: Women Photographers of the 20th Century. 1999

Selected Articles

Boston Herald, “Engel, Orkin Forged Path for Indies” Paul Sherman, July 13, 1997

Daily Variety, “Disney Nabs ‘Fugitive,’” Beth Laski, July 25, 1994

LA Weekly, “The Films of Morris Engel with Ruth Orkin,” Paul Malcolm, July 4-10,1997

Los Angeles Times, “On Sidewalks of New York: Another Era’s charm,” Susan King, July 10, 1997

New York Daily News, “Unforgettable Film is Coming to BAM,” Bob Kappstatter, February 21. 1979

New York Press. “Coney Island Baby,” C.J. Sullivan, October 8-14, 1997

The New York Times, “Black and White from Brooklyn, Small Movies Become Morris Engel’s Big Ticket,” Peter M. Nichols, July 4, 1997

Time Out New York, “Shutter to Think,” Michael Freidson, July 3 I-August 7, 1997

Films about Ruth Orkin

RUTH ORKIN: FRAMES OF LIFE. 1995

Written, produced and directed by Mary Engel

Selected as one of the “Outstanding Documentaries of 1996” by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Silver Plaque. Documentary, Arts/Humanities, Chicago Film Festival

George Sidney Award, Second place, San Luis Obispo Film Festival

Aspen Film Festival, London Film Festival, Nantucket Film Festival. Sundance Film Festival and others

Chronology

1921 Born September 3 in Boston, Massachusetts

1924 Family moves to Los Angeles, California

1931 Receives first camera, thirty-nine-cent Univex

1935-39 Attends Beverly Hills and Eagle Rock High Schools, California

First photo exhibit at camera store, Eagle Rock, California

1939 Bicycle trip from Los Angeles to see 1939 World’s Fair in New York City; bikes two thousand miles in four months through five major cities

1940 Attends Los Angeles City College for one year

1941 First messenger girl at MGM Studios, but not permitted to join cinematographer’s union because she was a woman

Joins Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps under false impression she would be taught how to make movies

1943 Moves to New York, has several odd jobs including one as a nightclub photographer

Early assignments for Theatre Week and Chess Review

1945 First assignment for The New York Times to photograph Leonard Bernstein with the NYC Symphony

Moves to West Village and photographs in her neighborhood

Attends The Photo League lectures, meets PM newspaper photographer, Morris Engel

1945-52 Intensive freelance career for Life, Look, This Week, Ladies Home journal, Cosmopolitan and Coronet

1946-50 Photographs classical musicians during summers at Lewisohn Stadium, New York, and Tanglewood

Music Festival, Massachusetts; publishes guidebook of photos of Leonard Bernstein, Isaac Stern, et al.

1951 Wins third prize in Life magazine’s Young Photographer’s Contest

Goes to Israel on press junket with Israeli Philharmonic and photographs people of Israel and lives on a kibbutz

In Italy, meets Jinx Allen at hotel and does picture story “Don’t Be Afraid to Travel Alone;” shoots her classic image American Girl in Italy

1952 Marries Morris Engel in New York City while working with him on the film Little Fugitive

1953 Little Fugitive is nominated for Academy Award for best motion picture story and wins Silver Lion at Venice Film Festival; Francois Truffaut credits Little Fugitive with starting the French New Wave

1955 Makes second award-winning film with Engel, Lovers and Lollipops

The Cardplayers is the only sequence included in Edward Steichen’s Family of Man exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art

1959 Son Andy born

Voted one of Top Ten Women Photographers in the U.S. by Professional Photographers of America

1961 Daughter Mary born

1965 Included in Photography in the Fine Arts exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

1974 First retrospective exhibition at Nikon House in New York City

1976-78 Instructor, School of Visual Arts

1977 First exhibition at The Witkin Gallery

1978 A World Through My Window, published by Harper and Row

1980 First Annual Manhattan Cultural Award in Photography

Instructor, International Center of Photography

1981 A Photo journal published by The Viking Press; photo-autobiography, containing

170 black-and-white photographs

1983 More Pictures From My Window published by Rizzoli

1985 Dies January 16 in New York City