Now on until 14 January 2024. Pursuing a career as a filmmaker in the United States during the first half of the 20th century was an obstacle course for women.
Pioneering photographer Ruth Orkin celebrated in Bonhams New York Photographs sale
American Girl (Jinx Allen) in Florence, Italy, 1951, gelatin silver print. Photo: Bonhams.
NEW YORK, NY
.- In 1951, the young American photographer Ruth Orkin was sent from New York to Israel, on assignment for LIFE magazine. From there she travelled to Italy, where she met Ninalee Craig, known at the time as Jinx Allen, a fellow American who was also travelling alone. It was a photograph of Jinx, being starred at as she passed through a group of men, which was to become Orkins most recognizable image, An American Girl in Italy. Orkin included the photograph as part of a series, later published in Cosmopolitan magazine, entitled Dont be Afraid to Travel Alone.