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Ruth Orkin "American Girl in Italy 1951"

  Lot # 049
Listing Image
Payment Options Seller Accepts PayPal
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Details
Condition
Very Good
Size
25" x 37"
Location
Bedroom #2
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Lot # 049
System ID # 3592202
End Date
Start Date
Description

Framed Ruth Orkin Photographic Print titled "American Girl in Italy 1951"

A passionate movie fan, Orkin was an avid autograph hunter, but soon began photographing celebrities instead. Orkin moved to New York in 1943. She took baby pictures during the day, and was a nightclub photographer. In the mid-1940's she became a photojournalist for many of the major magazines to include Life and Ladies Home Journal. In 1951 she traveled to Italy, and it was in Florence where she photographed her signature image "American Girl in Italy." Ruth Orkin found a hotel in Florence for $1 a day where came across another American girl, Ruth Orkin, who was also traveling alone. Orkin, a 29-year old aspiring photo journalist and Jinx, a statuesque 6-foot beauty, decided to team up for a photo essay documenting what it was like for a woman traveling alone in 1950s Europe.  Unfortunately, there were many people who used the image as a form of sexual harassment. But, Nina Craig stated "It is not a symbol of harassment. It’s a symbol of a woman having an absolutely wonderful time! I clutched my shawl to me because that sheaths the body. It was my protection, my shield. I was walking through a sea of men. I was enjoying every minute of it.” In fact, the American girl, Ninalee “Jinx” Allen Craig, even went for a scooter ride with the man on the Vespa seen in the photograph after it was taken.