George Everard Kidder Smith (1 October 1913 – 8 October 1997) was an American architect, author, educator, photographer, and prolific "builder" of books and curator of exhibitions. He collaborated with some of the leading publishers and graphic designers, ranging from Elaine Lustig Cohen and Leo Lionni to Paul Rand, to produce books that were both highly informative and visually engaging. Some publishers include The Museum of Modern Art, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Edizioni di Comunità and Penguin Books. Above all, Kidder Smith was an astute observer—in words and pictures—of modern architecture and the historic built environment of numerous cities and countries across the globe. During the 1950s and 1960s, thanks to his activism as a preservationist, he rallied a number of high-profile individuals and eventually helped prevent the Robie House and Villa Savoye from being demolished. In his New York Times obituary published on October 26, 1997, Herbert Muschamp described G. E. Kidder Smith as a "civic watchdog."

Biography

George Everard Kidder Smith was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on October 1, 1913. He was the third of four sons of Francis Hopkinson Smith (1876–1948) and Annie Kidder (1880–1929), a wealthy Episcopalian couple originally from Baltimore. Furthermore, the author, artist, and engineer F. Hopkinson Smith (1838–1915) was G. E. Kidder Smith's great-uncle. From an early age, he was inspired by stirring tales. Later, at school, he began his deep engagement with architecture and photography. He graduated from Princeton University, where he obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1935 and a Master of Fine Arts in 1938. In 1946 he was licensed as an architect. In August 1942, Kidder Smith married Dorothea Fales Wilder (1916-2015). During World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy with special photographic duties, which gave him the chance to encounter Captain Edward Steichen (1879–1973). Later on, Kidder Smith and Dot – often accompanied by their two sons, Kidder Jr. and Hopkinson – travelled the world documenting architecture and the built environment. He was a book author and exhibition curator on architecture in the United States and abroad. In his early career, Kidder Smith practised architecture, and during the years he was visiting lecturer and visiting professor in prestigious institutions such as Yale University School of Architecture and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1959, Kidder Smith was awarded the AIA Medal for Architectural Photography. His photographs appear in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art. G. E. Kidder Smith dedicated his life to the understanding and appreciation of architecture—and particularly of modern architecture. While his multifaceted work received praise from peers throughout his life, he has not received the historical assessment of other contemporary figures such as Julius Shulman and Ezra Stoller. He passed away at the age of 83, on October 8, 1997, at his home in Manhattan, due to bronchiectasis.

Books

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Relevant articles and essays

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Exhibitions

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TV-show and Documentaries

Unrealised works

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Awards and recognition

Fellowships

In 1946, he was both a Guggenheim Fellow and an American-Scandinavian Fellow. In 1949, Smith was a President's Fellow at Brown University. He was awarded Fulbright Research Fellowships to Italy in 1950 and India in 1965, and a Samuel H. Kress Foundation grant in 1967. In 1967 and 1974, he received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. Additionally, in 1970 and 1975, he received Ford Foundation grants.

Lectures

He gave lectures at numerous architecture schools in the US, Eastern Europe, England, Ireland, India, Italy, Afghanistan, Argentina, and Japan for the State Department and Foreign Service. He also taught at Yale (1948-49) and was a visiting professor at MIT (1955-56).

Photographs and archives

Source: G. E. Kidder Smith's photographs and papers are housed in the following collections:

Further reading and exhibitions