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Elizabeth A. T. Smith

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Elizabeth A. T. Smith
Born1958
Boston, Massachusetts
NationalityAmerican

Elizabeth A. T. Smith is an American art historian, museum curator, writer, and presently the executive director of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation.[1] She has formerly held positions as a curator at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA), the chief curator and deputy director of programs at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago[2], and the executive director, curatorial affairs, at the Art Gallery of Ontario. She is the author of numerous books on art and architecture[3], including Blueprints for Modern Living: History and Legacy of the Case Study Houses[4][5]; Lee Bontecou: A Retrospective[6], Helen Frankenthaler: Composing with Color, 1962-63,[7] and many others[8][9].

Elizabeth Smith joined the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation as its first executive director in fall 2013.[10][11]

Her previous position as Executive Director, Curatorial Affairs at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) in Toronto was from 2010-13,[12] and her position as Chief Curator and Deputy Director of Programs at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) was from 1999 to 2009[13][14]. Prior to joining MCA, her position as Curator at The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles was from 1983 to 1999.

Smith’s curatorial work and writings have ranged broadly across visual art, public art, and architecture from mid-20th century to today and have continuously advanced the work of women artists. While at AGO, Smith curated and oversaw exhibitions on the work of artists Yael Bartana[15] and Kim Adams[16], as well as group shows with artists including LaToya Ruby Frazier and Erin Sherriff, and was curator-in-charge of traveling exhibitions such as Abstract Expressionist New York,[17] Chagall and the Russian Avant-Garde,[18] and Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musee Picasso.[19]

As MCA’s Chief Curator, Smith curated monographic exhibitions of artists Jenny Holzer[20][21], Lee Bontecou[22], Kerry James Marshall[23], Roberto Matta[24], Catherine Opie[25], and Donald Moffett, exhibitions on architecture such as Sustainable Architecture in Chicago: Works in Progress[26] and Garofalo Architects: Between the Museum and the City,[27] and numerous presentations of MCA’s collection. Smith’s curatorial projects while at MOCA Los Angeles ranged from Blueprints for Modern Living: History and Legacy of the Case Study Houses[28], The Architecture of R.M. Schindler, named by the American section of the International Association of Art Critics as the "Best Architecture or Design Exhibition of the Year"[29][30][31][32], and At the End of the Century: 100 Years of Architecture to a survey of the Cindy Sherman‘s photographs[33][34] and the first museum presentations of then-emerging artists Uta Barth[35], Toba Khedoori[36], Catherine Opie[37], and Margaret Honda[38] as well as a collaboration between artist Kiki Smith and architect Wolf Prix of Coop Himmelblau[39].

Besides her exhibition catalogues, Smith’s writings have appeared in such publications as Do-ho Suh: Drawings[40]; Chicago Makes Modern; Buckminster Fuller: Starting with the Universe[41]; Design Cities 1851-2008[42]; Birth of the Cool[43]; and the 54th Carnegie International[44]. She is the author of Techno Architecture (2000)[45] and books on the Los Angeles Case Study Houses (2002/2006)[46]. Her most recent essay “Redefining a Practice: Helen Frankenthaler and Painting in the Early 1960s” appeared in the catalogue Helen Frankenthaler: Composing with Color, 1962-1963[47], co-published by Gagosian Gallery and Rizzoli International Publications in 2014. Her essay “Helen Frankenthaler and Color” is forthcoming in the journal PUBLIC[48], to be released in September 2015.

Smith received her B.A. from Barnard College and her M.A.in Art History at Columbia University in New York City. She was Adjunct Professor in the Public Art Studies[49] program of the School of Fine Arts at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has received awards and honors from the Getty Foundation, the International Association of Art Critics, the Chicago Tribune, and others. Smith served a six-year term on the Board of Trustees of the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts in Chicago[50] and was a 2012 Fellow of the Center for Curatorial Leadership[51] in New York. Currently, she is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC)[52], where she also serves on the organization’s Finance Committee.

In 2004 Smith won the "Best Monographic Museum Show Nationally" award from the Art Critics Association/USA for her exhibition Lee Bontecou: A Retrospective,[53] and her catalogue for the exhibition was described by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, as "one of the best-selling in the museum’s history."[54]

References

  1. ^ Helen Frankenthaler Foundation
  2. ^ Elizabeth Smith, James W. Alsdorf Chief Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Chicago
  3. ^ Elizabeth A.T. Smith's Books
  4. ^ Blueprints for Modern Living: History and Legacy of the Case Study Houses
  5. ^ Blueprints for Modern Living: History and Legacy of the Case Study Houses
  6. ^ Lee Bontecou: A Retrospective
  7. ^ Helen Frankenthaler: Composing: Paintings 1962-1963
  8. ^ Elizabeth A.T. Smith's Books
  9. ^ Elizabeth A. T. Smith, Author
  10. ^ Elizabeth Smith, named the first Executive Director of the New York-based Helen Frankenthaler Foundation in 2013
  11. ^ Helen Frankenthaler Foundation announces appointment of Elizabeth Smith as Executive Director
  12. ^ Elizabeth A. T. Smith, Executive Director of Curatorial Affairs, Art Gallery of Ontario
  13. ^ Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Announces Departure of Elizabeth Smith
  14. ^ "A short note on Elizabeth Smith’s MCA departure"
  15. ^ Yael Bartana: …And Europe Will Be Stunned
  16. ^ AGO unveils playful new works by Kim Adams
  17. ^ Abstract Expressionist New York, interview with Elizabeth A. T. Smith
  18. ^ Curators Elizabeth Smith and Angela Lampe discuss Chagall and the Russian Avant-Garde
  19. ^ Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris
  20. ^ Jenny Holzer: PROTECT, PROTECT
  21. ^ Catalogue: Jenny Holzer, with essays by Elizabeth A. T. Smith and Joan Simon
  22. ^ Essay on the exhibition, by Collette Chattopadhyay
  23. ^ Kerry James Marshall: One True Thing, Meditations on Black Aesthetics, curated by Elizabeth A. T. Smith
  24. ^ Matta in America: Decade of Creativity Leaves a Lasting Mark, review of exhibition curated by Elizabeth A. T. Smith
  25. ^ Description of Elizabeth A. T. Smith's project and exhibition of Catherine Opie's work, in 2006
  26. ^ Sustainable Architecture in Chicago: Works in Progress, curated by Elizabeth A. T. Smith
  27. ^ "Garofalo Architects: Between the Museum and the City," curated by Elizabeth A. T. Smith
  28. ^ Video, Elizabeth A. T. Smith discussing her exhibition Blueprints for Modern Living: History and Legacy of the Case Study Houses
  29. ^ Elizabeth A. T. Smith MCA biography
  30. ^ The Architecture of R.M. Schindler, organized by Elizabeth A. T. Smith
  31. ^ Schindler Drawings, Architecture Shown
  32. ^ [1] The architecture of R.M. Schindler
  33. ^ Press release for Cindy Sherman exhibition at Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, curated by Elizabeth A. T. Smith
  34. ^ Cindy Sherman: Retrospective, by Elizabeth A. T. Smith
  35. ^ Uta Barth Focus Series, by Elizabeth A. T. Smith
  36. ^ Toba Khedoori, with essay by Elizabeth A. T. Smith
  37. ^ Catherine Opie, published by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
  38. ^ Margaret Honda: Recto Verso, with text by Elizabeth A. T. Smith
  39. ^ Focus Series exhibition Paradise cage, Kiki Smith and Coop Himmelb(l)au, by Elizabeth A. T. Smith
  40. ^ Do Ho-Suh Drawings
  41. ^ Buckminster Fuller: Starting with the Universe
  42. ^ Design Cities 1851-2008, catalogue.
  43. ^ Birth of the Cool
  44. ^ 54th Carnegie International', catalogue
  45. ^ Techno Architecture
  46. ^ Case Study Houses, by Elizabeth A. T. Smith
  47. ^ Composing with Color: Paintings 1962-1963
  48. ^ PUBLIC - Art | Culture | Ideas
  49. ^ Art/Curatorial Practices in the Public Sphere, USC Roski School of Art and Design
  50. ^ Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts
  51. ^ The Center for Curatorial Leadership
  52. ^ Association of Art Museum Curators
  53. ^ See: Four L.A. exhibitions top critics' awards, Los Angeles Times, Dec 17, 2004
  54. ^ See: Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago's Annual Report, July 1st 2003-June 30, 2004.
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