Ruth Gruber, Photojournalist celebrates the life, vision, and heroic tenacity of one of the 20th century's great humanitarians and photojournalists. A celebrated author, lecturer, and intrepid correspondent, Gruber was appointed by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes in 1941 to report on conditions in the Alaska Territory. She captured some of the earliest color images of Alaska's vast frontier, lives and customs of the native population, and conditions and experiences of American soldiers. In 1944, during the Second World War, Gruber stewarded the ship Henry Gibbins on a secret U.S. government mission that brought nearly 1,000 Jewish refugees from Europe to the U.S. Gruber subsequently shifted her attention to the lives of refugees and to issues of rescue, sanctuary, and liberation. In 1947, Gruber's iconic photographs documenting the harrowing voyage of Exodus 1947—a ship carrying Jewish refugees attempting to break the British blockade on immigration to Palestine—significantly impacted perceptions of their plight.

The photographs in this exhibition span more than fifty years, from her groundbreaking reportage of the Soviet Arctic in the 1930s and iconic images of Jewish refugees from the ship Exodus 1947, to her later photographs of Ethiopian Jews in the midst of civil war in the 1980s. A selection of Gruber’s vintage prints, never before exhibited, will be presented alongside contemporary prints made from her original negatives. Gruber is a recipient of the 2011 ICP Infinity Awards Cornell Capa Award.

On view through August 28, 2011
International Center of Photography
1133 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY
http://www.icp.org