CRANSTON, R.I. — An original signed and dated print by famed photojournalist Ruth Orkin is the top lot in Bruneau & Co.‘s Fine & Decorative Arts sale on Monday, November 6. The catalog is now available for bidding at LiveAuctioneers.
The 438-lot sale is an eclectic mix of consignments from collections and estates, ranging from coins and jewelry to American Indian baskets and musical instruments.
Bearing the highest estimate in the sale, at $2,000-$4,000, is Israeli Teenager, the aforementioned print by Ruth Orkin (1921-1985). Born to show business parents in Los Angeles, Orkin began her photographic career as a child with a cheap camera, taking images of friends and school teachers. Largely self-taught, Orkin began to gain traction after World War II with photographs of prominent celebrities. This drew the attention of Life magazine, then America’s largest-circulation periodical, whose editors dispatched her to travel with then-nascent Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra. Captured during that trip, the image is inscribed under the mat Israeli Teenager Miriam Schnoock age 15, Tel Aviv, 1951 Ruth Orkin 1952.
