Home

Coverbild Ruth Orkin
A square hardcover book with a beige cover, titled RUTH ORKIN WOMEN, resting on a white surface. The cover features a color photograph of a woman with styled dark hair and red lipstick, holding a vintage black telephone to her ear while sitting on a red and yellow couch.
The cover of the photography book Ruth Orkin: Women, published by Hatje Cantz, set against a white background. The beige cover features a color photograph of a woman with styled hair and red lipstick, holding an old-fashioned black telephone receiver to her ear as she looks at the camera.
The back cover of a tan book, angled on a white surface. It features a large black-and-white street photograph of two women in dark coats on a crowded city sidewalk. Below the image is descriptive text about the photographer Ruth Orkin, two quotes, and a barcode in the lower right corner.
An open photobook on a white surface displays two vintage-style color photographs on facing pages. The photo on the left shows a woman in a hat pointing upwards while a man sits on a porch step below her, smoking. The photo on the right is an intimate close-up of a woman in a striped shirt being embraced by a man.
An open book lies flat, displaying a vintage color photograph of actress Nanette Fabray from 1952. She wears a pink satin dress and laughs joyfully while looking at her reflection. Two other women stand smiling behind her in a candid backstage moment.
An open book with a red spine lays flat, displaying a two-page spread of black and white photographs from a 1940s beauty parlor. On the left, a woman smiles while sitting under a large dome hair dryer. On the right, another woman receives a perm from a complex machine with wires and curlers as a stylist makes adjustments.
An open book showing a black-and-white photograph of a 1940s New York City street corner. Several women and two young girls in coats stand and walk on the sidewalk in front of an A. Schulte smoke shop, its window filled with advertisements for cigarettes and gum.
An open book displays a two-page spread with black-and-white street photography from 1947. The photos show several women talking and laughing while sitting and standing on the front stoop of a brownstone building in New York City.
A two-page book spread. The left page has the title Capturing Grace above two columns of text. The right page shows the March 1950 cover of Ladies' Home Journal, featuring a woman in a red hat and tan coat holding a bag of groceries at an outdoor market.
A side-by-side display of two vintage color photographs. On the left, from 1952, a woman in a hat holds a baby while her young son in a cowboy hat stands behind a white picket fence. On the right, from 1950, a mother in a blue dress leans down to affectionately touch foreheads with her young daughter in a stroller.
A diptych of two black and white photographs. On the left, a woman in a bikini top sits on a lawn, seen from behind, with a man resting his head near her. On the right, a woman relaxes in a wooden chair on a porch, her face covered by a cloth with a flower tucked into her hair.
A vintage color photo from 1949 of a couple at a party in New York. A man in a dark suit and tie holds a glass and smiles at the camera, while a woman in a black puff-sleeve dress and white gloves holds her glass and looks off to the side. A bartender stands behind them at the bar.
A side-by-side display of two color photographs from 1950. On the left, actress Jane Russell smiles with red lipstick, looking upward while holding a cup. On the right, actress Joan Fontaine, wearing a blue cap, looks down intently at a newspaper, holding a pencil to her lips in a thoughtful pose.
A black and white diptych showing actress Jane Russell in a recording studio in New York, 1950. In both images, she stands with her hands on her hips in front of a vintage microphone, wearing a silk blouse and a dark skirt. Her facial expression changes from pensive in the left photo to stern and displeased in the right.
A vintage color photograph of a young woman with wavy blonde hair and a pensive expression, looking to her left. She is wearing an elegant dark green corduroy jacket and a double-strand pearl necklace. The outdoor setting is softly focused, showing a bridge and autumn trees in warm sunlight.
A diptych of two black and white photographs from a 1949 New York beauty parlor. On the left, a woman sits under a vintage hooded hair dryer as a stylist attends to her. On the right, a smiling male hairstylist gives another woman a haircut as she sits in a salon chair.
A diptych of color photos from 1952 shows actress Joan Taylor in a salon. On the left, she has a pensive expression as her hair, full of lather, is washed in a sink. On the right, she smiles joyfully with her eyes closed as a makeup artist carefully applies tint to her eyebrows with a small brush.
A two-panel, black-and-white photograph from 1949. The left panel shows a man in a suit giving a thumbs-up across a breakfast table to a woman who is reading. The right panel shows the woman at a kitchen sink, pulling on a rubber dish glove.
A black-and-white diptych of two photographs from a New York dog show in 1949. On the left, a woman sits in a cramped stall with three Weimaraner dogs. On the right, a group of five women sit together on a bench, smiling and socializing.
A book spread displaying two black and white photographs side-by-side. On the left, a candid 1951 photo from Florence, Italy, shows a smiling man and woman on a Vespa scooter. On the right, a 1947 photo from New York shows a model in a patterned skirt standing in profile on a rooftop next to chimneys.
Ruth Orkin
Women
€ 38.00
VAT included. Shipping costs will be calculated at checkout
By (artist): Ruth Orkin
Designed by: Julia Wagner, grafikanstalt
Contributions by: Nadine Barth
Edited by: Nadine Barth, Katharina Mouratidi
December 2023, 144 Pages, 111 Photos
Hardcover
272mm x 272mm
ISBN: 978-3-7757-5685-3

HATJE CANTZ VERLAG
Mommsenstr. 27
10629 Berlin
Germany
E-Mail: contact@hatjecantz.de


According to Article 9(7) of the GPSR Regulation, no additional security information is required for books without supplements or special functions.

Press download
Capturing grace
Her American Girl in Italy-the street scene with the whistling Italians-is an icon. Now sensational negatives and slides have surfaced from the archive that reveal a little-known side of Ruth Orkin: that of the sensitive, interested, witty chronicler of the women's world of the 1940s and 1950s. Orkin thought up editorials like the tongue-in-cheek reportage Who works harder? comparing the lives of a career woman and a housewife. She documented the hustle and bustle in beauty salons and at cocktail parties, at dog shows and on Hollywood film sets. We meet Lauren Bacall, Jane Russell, Joan Taylor or Doris Day, but also waitresses, stewardesses and female soldiers, as wall as groups of female friends. What emerges is the image of women on the move, women who are beginning to cast off the conventions imposed on them, going their own way: self-confident, stylish, smart.

American photographer, photojournalist, and filmmaker RUTH ORKIN (1921-1985) grew up in Hollywood as the daughter of a silent film actress. She went on to be one of the first women to study photojournalism at Los Angeles City College. In 1943 Orkin moved to New York City, working as a freelance photojournalist. Her photographs appeared in The New York Times, LIFE, Look, Ladies' Home Journal, and other publications. On the occasion of what would have been her 100th birthday, exhibitions were held across Europe and North America. In 2021, Hatje Cantz published A Photo Spirit dedicated to her pioneering work.
EXHIBITIONS
f3 - freiraum für fotografie , Berlin
December 8, 2023-February 18, 2024
Gallery of Fine Arts, Ostrava
March 5-May 12, 2024
Recommendations for you