G.E. Kidder Smith Builds: The Travel of Architectural Photography

Join us for the book launch of G.E. Kidder Smith Builds by Angelo Maggi

The first comprehensive overview about a talented 20th-century writer, photographer, and “builder” of books who greatly impacted architecture appreciation in America and beyond.

George Everard Kidder Smith (1913–1997) was a multidimensional figure within the wide-ranging field of North American architectural professionals in the second half of the twentieth century. Although he trained as an architect, he chose not to practice within the conventional strictures of an architecture office. Instead, Kidder Smith “designed,” researched, wrote, and photographed a remarkably diverse collection of books about architecture and the built environment. His work and life were deeply interwoven and punctuated by travel related to the research, writing, and promotion of books that sought to reveal the genius loci of the countries whose built environments he admired and wished to share with a broader audience. From the early 1940s to the late 1950s his interest in architecture led him to describe visually the architectural and historical identity of many European countries. After his far-flung travels over the decades, with his wife Dorothea, Kidder Smith focused on his own country and produced a series of ambitious books focused on the United States. Kidder Smith’s vision and narrative betray the gaze of the traveller, the scholar, and the architect.

Angelo Maggi is Associate Professor of Architectural History and History of Architectural Photography at Università Iuav di Venezia. Maggi trained as an architect at the Università Iuav di Venezia, and he obtained his PhD in Architecture and Visual Studies at Edinburgh College of Art.

AA Visiting School Programme Head Chris Pierce will introduce Angelo Maggi at an event at the AA Bookshop to celebrate the launch of this new publication over refreshments.

The book will be sold at the special price of £40 RRP £50