Ruth Orkin
Starting on 5 March 2026, Palazzo Pallavicini in Via San Felice 24 in Bologna will once again focus on the female gaze in photography with a major retrospective exhibition dedicated to Ruth Orkin, curated by Anne Morin and organised by Pallavicini srl by Chiara Campagnoli, Deborah Petroni and Rubens Fogacci, with text coordination by Francesca Bogliolo.
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Useful Information
Information:
E-mail: info@palazzopallavicini.com; segreteria@palazzopallavicini.com
Mobile: +39 3313471504ย -ย +39 3514535469 ยPress Office
CLP Public Relations
Ilenia Rubino - Mobile: +39 333 2238560 | E-mail: ilenia.rubino@clp1968.it
Mobile: + 39 02 36755700 |ย www.clp1968.itExhibition dates: 5 March 2026 โ 19 July 2026
- Thursday to Sunday (10 a.m. to 8 p.m., last admission at 7 p.m.)
Special openings
- 5 April 2026 - Easter Sunday
- 6 April 2026 - Easter Monday
- 25 April 2026 - Liberation Day Saturday
- 1 May 2026 - Labour Day Friday
- 10 May 2026 - Mother's Day Sunday
- 1 and 2 June 2026 - Monday and Tuesday Republic Day
Admission - Exhibitions organised by Pallavicini srl only accept electronic payments.
- โฌ16 Full price
- โฌ14 Reduced (from 14 to 18 years of age, over 65 with ID, students under 26 with ID, military personnel with ID, tour guides with ID outside their professional, study or training functions, trainee journalists and publicists with ID regularly registered with the Order, carers accompanying persons with disabilities, ICOM members, Italian Touring Club, AICS Bologna with card, State Property employees with badge, Palazzo Pallavicini mailing list subscribers, ticket holders for the other exhibition currently on at Palazzo Pallavicini)
- โฌ12 Bologna Welcome Card, Bologna Congress and Card Cultura, FIAF, AIRF
- Family ticket for 1 or 2 adults + children (aged 6 to 14) -> โฌ12 reduced adult - โฌ8 reduced child (free ticket for children under 5)โฌ12 University Thursday (for all students presenting their 2025/2026 enrolment card)
- โฌ12* *Visitors with disabilities in possession of a disability certificate; car permits are not accepted
- Free: children under the age of 6, guides with a card for professional, study or training purposes, holders of a Disability Card issued by INPS (Italian National Social Security Institute) valid as of the Official Gazette of 23 December 2021).
- โฌ12 Groups (min. 10 people โ max. 25 people) **
- โฌ6 Schools (2 teachers free for each class, H/104 free) ** **For groups and schools, it is mandatory to book a date and time at segreteria@palazzopallavicini.com
- โฌ18 Open ticket: includes admission at any time and on any date, including holidays
Services
- Animals are only allowed in carriers, or you can book a dog-sitting service via the website www.bauadvisor.it.
- The cloakroom is unattended, so please do not leave any valuables there.
- Smoking and consuming food and drinks inside the exhibition is strictly prohibited.
Important notices
Access for non-ambulatory persons or persons in wheelchairs (non-electric) is only possible via the Jolly Ramp D3000010 tracked stairlift provided by TGR with a capacity of up to 140 kg (weight calculated between person and wheelchair, the total weight will be the responsibility of the visitor) for two flights of stairs for a total of 38 steps. The complete technical data sheet can be downloaded and viewed at the following link: https://tgr.it/prodotto/jolly-ramp-montascale-mobile-a-cingoli/
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Press Release
Raised in an environment deeply connected to the world of entertainment โ daughter of silent film actress Mary Ruby and direct witness to behind-the-scenes Hollywood in the Roaring Twenties โ Ruth Orkin initially cherished the dream of becoming a director, but in an era when women were often denied access to the camera, she was forced to look elsewhere for her creative outlet. The initial obstacle did not prevent her from pursuing her artistic vision with determination. Thanks in part to her first camera โ a 39-cent Univex she received as a gift when she was only ten years old โ Orkin transformed that dream into a new path, giving life to an original and deeply innovative photographic language capable of celebrating life in its many facets. Her works strongly emphasise the dialogue between still images and movement, a dual temporal dimension that recalls the language of cinema. His most famous shot, American Girl in Italy, which depicts 23-year-old Nina Lee Craig crossing a street in Florence under the flirtatious gaze of a group of young Italian men, is emblematic of this approach: an image capable of encapsulating the narrative power of cinema in a single frame, activating the viewer's imagination. On display are 187 photographs, two cameras and several important documents, aimed at consolidating the crucial role that Orkin's work plays in the history of photography. For the American artist, visual storytelling is constructed through a dynamic succession of images, a characteristic that can be seen in the fascinating Road Movie series, created in 1939 during her bicycle trip from Los Angeles to New York. The influence of cinema is equally evident in the series From Above, in which Orkin observes and captures everyday life from her window, transforming the street into a spontaneous stage. The subjects, unaware of their role, become protagonists in a narrative marked by alternating movement and stillness, giving the story a magnetic fluidity. Equally captivating are the portraits of famous personalities such as Albert Einstein, Marlon Brando, Robert Capa, Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles: images that emblematically demonstrate her ability to narrate people and environments with great immediacy and expressive effectiveness. Today, the work of Ruth Orkin, recognised as one of the most important photojournalists of the 20th century, is being rediscovered and reinterpreted in the light of a new critical perspective, restoring full relevance and value to a body of work that has marked the history of photography. The exhibition was promoted by Pallavicini srl, in collaboration with diChroma photography and the FIAF Italian Federation of Photographic Associations.