G. E. Kidder Smith

Who was G. E. Kidder Smith?

George Everard Kidder Smith was an American architectural writer and photographer.

Smith trained as an architect, received his MFA from Princeton in 1938, and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II with special photographic duties.

Through his career he wrote and photographed a number of books, the first of which was the 1943 Brazil Builds, an examination of South American modernism produced in conjunction with a Museum of Modern Art exhibition. Kidder himself designed a number of MOMA exhibitions, including an Edward Steichen show in 1945, Power in the Pacific.

Brazil Builds would be followed by Switzerland Builds, Sweden Builds, Italy Builds, and Smith's most prominent work, the Source Book of American Architecture.

Smith was also active as a preservationist. It was Smith who urged developer William Zeckendorf to purchase the Robie House in August 1958, and in 1962 Smith helped organize the preservation of the Villa Savoye.