A woman maneuvers through an urban wolf pack in Ruth Orkin’s signature photo, “American Girl in Italy, 1951.” Orkin (1921 – 1985) was renowned for her candid photos of Europeans and New Yorkers, and for the views she documented from her Central Park West apartment window for 30 years. Riding a bicycle from Los Angeles to New York’s World’s Fair, she stayed in the city and became a photojournalist for “Life,” “Look,” “Horizon,” and “Ladies Home Journal.” In Italy, she photographed the art student featured in her photographic story, “Don’t be Afraid to Travel Alone,” which was originally published in “Cosmopolitan.”

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