RUTH ORKIN: A Centennial Celebration

NEW WORK by Gallery Artists

June 5 - August 14, 2021

Opening Reception:

Saturday, June 5, 2021

From 5 - 8 pm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, DALLAS, TX – Two exhibitions will make their debut in the new PDNB Gallery location on Manufacturing Street in Dallas, on Saturday, June 5, 2021.

But first, a personal note, from a pre-post Covid diary.

PDNB Gallery started as Photographs Do Not Bend Gallery in 1995 in a little house on Routh Street in Dallas. Last year, PDNB celebrated its 25th anniversary, in quiet locations, in staff home offices. No clinking of champagne glasses, but some retro images to enjoy, posted on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, from our first years on Routh Street.

That anniversary month, April 2020, was frantic, not just for us, but the world. But, holding on to the memories of those early years of our gallery reminded us of where we started and how far we have traveled. It has been a great adventure that we only dreamed of back then. Helping to place powerful photographs in private and public collections near and far was the goal. Along the path, we met remarkable people…artists, collectors, gallerists, writers, curators, architects, construction workers, framers, publishers, shippers, etc.

As members of AIPAD (Association of International Photography Art Dealers), we exhibited among our colleagues in the New York Photography Shows, for 25 years. Art fairs and Photo Festivals like the FotoFest Biennial, have benefitted PDNB in many ways, meeting collectors, curators, and artists from all over the world enabled us to become a more international player, early on.

The knowledge we have gained was vast. Each day a gem, a challenge, and a new beginning.

So here we are, 26 years later, in our new gallery. A fresh start in a beautiful space, designed once again by the very talented architect, Thomas Krähenbühl. The location is great, next door to other art galleries. PDNB is still located in the Dallas Design District, which is growing by the minute, with the noise of construction on every block.

This location brings us to a philosophical new beginning. A time to restart with optimism and big ideas. We are smiling about the possibilities of this brave new world.

On June 5th, we celebrate this momentous occasion with an exhibition reviewing Ruth Orkin’s career. Ruth would have been 100 this year. She created indelible work that has contributed to the history of photography and photojournalism. Her New York images, along with her iconic work from Italy, captured street life with a sensitive, candid vision of a true artist.

Ruth’s centennial year will be marked with the release of a monograph published by Hatje Cantz. Her photographs will be widely exhibited in galleries and museums in the US, Canada and Europe. Earlier this year, many of Orkin’s most memorable images were published in The Guardian. And, PDNB will screen the film, Ruth Orkin: Frames of Life, during the span of the exhibition on a date to be announced.

Many will remember Ruth Orkin’s classic, American Girl in Italy. This image became an icon, reproduced all over the world. It was shot in Florence, Italy, when Ruth had just been to Israel for a press junket to photograph newly settled Jewish immigrants in 1951. Afterwards, she decided to take a trip to Italy to do a travel story about a young woman, like herself, traveling in Italy alone. She met an American art student in her Florence hotel that became her ‘model’ for this photo series. This street scene she encountered, taken in two shots, became part of the successful series that Cosmopolitan Magazine picked up, the rest is history. In 2019, with the Me Too movement taking hold, this image gained criticism for its display of male ogling. Certainly, times have changed, but the image is an indelible part of Western culture.

Orkin's exhibition will include vintage, modern and posthumous prints.

PDNB will also feature a show of new work by gallery artists that has mostly been created this past year of COVID. The images are diverse interpretations of how the pandemic motivated their work, including color work by Keith Carter, from his pandemic walks, and an image by Delilah Montoya that deals with separation, created for the New Monuments for New Cities project, exhibited on the High Line at 14th Street, in Manhattan. Also featured are some new/ older images by a few gallery artists that have not been exhibited before. These images are timely, including a portrait of the now, late novelist, Larry McMurtry, by Michael O’Brien.

We are looking forward to seeing you in our new space! On Saturday, June 5, 2021, we will have much to celebrate with you, but if you are unable to attend the opening reception, please know that we are now open with regular hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 11 am - 5 pm. We have missed you dearly.

Opening reception: Saturday, June 5, 2021 5pm – 8pm