Ruth Orkin
American Girl in Italy
Dropping Tuesday 28 April, 10am EDT
ABOUT THE DROP
The Project
Released exclusively on Dropshop in collaboration with the Ruth Orkin Photo Archive, Ruth Orkin’s American Girl in Italy: 75th-Anniversary Box Set Collection celebrates one of the most iconic images of the Post-War period and brings together familiar and previously unpublished images to illuminate Orkin’s original vision for the series - elevating this body of work beyond any single image.
In 1951, Life sent Orkin on assignment to Israel. From there she went to Italy, where she met Jinx Allen, a painter and fellow American, in Florence. The two were talking about their shared experiences traveling alone as young single women, when Ruth seized the moment to invite Jinx to shoot pictures of what that experience was really like. In the morning, while the Italian women were inside preparing lunch, Jinx gawked at statues, asked Military officials for directions, fumbled with lire and flirted in cafes while Ruth photographed her. While walking to their original destination of the Arno River, she spotted a group of men idling on the corner of the Piazza Della Rupubblica. It took only 35 seconds and two frames to capture American Girl in Italy, an unscripted moment that has become legendary in the history photography.
This collection presents the first and only time the Ruth Orkin Archive will release American Girl in Italy, along with classics such as Couple in MG, Jinx in Goggles, and Jinx in Beads, capturing the creative magic between photographer and subject, and broaden our understanding of Orkin’s singular talent. Available in an edition of 75, the box set includes a total of 12 carefully selected photographs from the 1951 series and expands our understanding of the iconic American Girl in Italy photograph by including the previously unprinted first frame, American Girl in Italy (Variation), and contact sheet. Ruth and Jinx on Balcony, captured by an unknown photographer, highlights the instant connection between artist and subject - a relationship that would continue for the rest of their lives.
All photographs are printed in a new size exclusive to this anniversary edition and will not be issued separately. The first ten purchasers will also receive the accompanying catalogue, The Making of a Classic, signed by Ninalee ‘Jinx’ Allen, the subject of the series.
Recognizing the importance of this release, International Center of Photography (ICP) — highly regarded for its leadership in photography and visual culture — will exhibit the complete box set in its lobby beginning 7 May and running for six weeks. The exhibit is open to the public, and visitors are invited to view the full set of prints at 84 Ludlow Street in New York.
Jinx and Carlo on Scooter © Ruth Orkin
The Box Set
Ruth Orkin, American Girl in Italy: 75th-Anniversary Box Set
12 pigment prints | Edition of 75
American Girl in Italy
American Girl in Italy (Variation)
Couple in MG
Jinx at American Express Office
Jinx and Justin at Cafe
Jinx Through the Beads
Jinx in Goggles
Jinx and Carlo on Scooter
Jinx Sitting with the Locals
Jinx Staring at Statue
Ruth and Jinx on Balcony (Photographer Unknown)
Contact Sheet of American Girl in Italy
Images approximately 10 5/8 x 16 in. (27 x 40.6 cm) or the reverse
Contact Sheet: 12 x 13 1/8 in. (30.5 x 33.3 cm)
Each sheet 14 x 18 in. (35.6 x 45.7 cm) or the reverse
$12,000
© Ruth Orkin
The Artist
Ruth Orkin (b. 1921, Boston- d. 1985, New York) received her first camera — a 39-cent Univex — at the age of ten, and never really put one down. At seventeen, she made her way from Los Angeles to New York City by car, by train, and bicycled over 2000 miles through five major cities to see the 1939 World's Fair, taking photos along the way. She moved to New York in 1943, shooting baby pictures by day and nightclub portraits after dark, saving until she could afford her first professional camera.
The major magazines came calling throughout the decade. Among her early distinctions, her photograph of Geraldine Dent became the first color photo published on the cover of Ladies' Home Journal. Summers drew her to Tanglewood, where she photographed the great classical musicians of her era — Leonard Bernstein, Isaac Stern, Aaron Copland, Jascha Heifetz, Serge Koussevitzky — and formed friendships that would last her lifetime.
In 1951, LIFE magazine sent her to Israel with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and afterward she traveled to
Florence, where she met fellow American art student Nina Lee Craig. Together they made a series of photographs, including American Girl in Italy of a young woman striding through a gauntlet of staring men outside the Cafe Gilli — part of a series titled Don't Be Afraid to Travel Alone that debuted in Cosmopolitan in 1952. It remains one of the most recognized photographs of the twentieth century.
Back in New York, she married photographer and filmmaker Morris Engel. Together they raised two children and produced two feature films, including Little Fugitive, which won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival and earned an Academy Award nomination in 1953, launching the American independent film movement and inspiring the French New Wave.
In the years that followed, Orkin photographed the world from the window of her Central Park apartment — marathons, parades, protests, concerts, and the changing seasons — the subject of two widely acclaimed books, A World Through My Window (1978) and More Pictures From My Window (1983). Ruth Orkin died on January 16, 1985, in her New York apartment, surrounded by her life's work.
All photographs © Ruth Orkin. Ruth Orkin, American Girl in Italy, 1952/1980
Ruth and Jinx on Balcony (Photographer Unknown) © Ruth Orkin