Red Hot, From 3rd Ave. El

Artist Ruth Orkin (American, 1921 - 1985)

Dateca. 1950

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage and sheet: 9 5/8 × 6 11/16 inches (24.45 × 16.99 cm)

Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.

Object number2005.27.2020

SignedSigned on sheet verso, center, in black pen: "Ruth Orkin"

InscribedOn sheet verso, center, in pencil: "from 3rd Ave El"

MarkingsOn sheet verso, bottom, in pencil: "PF31528", "12-5-00", "P5.012.005.00"; On sheet verso, upper right, in pencil: "CD5911".

On View

Not on view

Collections

Photography

Terms

DescriptionImage taken from above looking down onto a sidwalk where a street vendor sends "Red Hot Frankfurters and Ice Cold Drinks", a girl rides a tricycle, and a woman pushes a baby in a stroller.Gallery Label

Gallery Label

Photographing from one of New York City’s elevated trains, Ruth Orkin waited for the precise moment when a hot dog stand, a woman with a baby carriage, and a girl on a tricycle all crossed her camera’s frame. In Red Hot, Orkin transforms the sidewalk below into a grid with each person positioned along the horizontal lines in a moment of charming graphic simplicity. Though often associated with rushed moments of haphazard chance, street photographs like Orkin’s are the result of an exacting, patient eye.

Provenance

Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, NY;
Purchased from Howard Greenberg Gallery by Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO, 2000;
Given by Hallmark Cards, Inc. to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2005.

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