Elizabeth A. T. Smith (born 1958) is an American art historian, museum curator, writer, and presently the executive director of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation.Helen Frankenthaler Foundation 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, and the executive director, curatorial affairs, at the Art Gallery of Ontario. She is the author of numerous books on art and architecture,Elizabeth A.T. Smith's Books including Blueprints for Modern Living: History and Legacy of the Case Study HousesBlueprints for Modern Living: History and Legacy of the Case Study HousesBlueprints for Modern Living: History and Legacy of the Case Study Houses; Lee Bontecou: A Retrospective,Lee Bontecou: A Retrospective Helen Frankenthaler: Composing with Color, 1962–63,Helen Frankenthaler: Composing: Paintings 1962–1963 and many others.Elizabeth A.T. Smith's BooksElizabeth A. T. Smith, Author

Biography Elizabeth Smith joined the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation as its first executive director in fall 2013.Elizabeth Smith, named the first Executive Director of the New York-based Helen Frankenthaler Foundation in 2013Helen Frankenthaler Foundation announces appointment of Elizabeth Smith as Executive Director In 2025, she also joined the board of Directors of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation. Elizabeth Smith joined the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation Board of Directors

Her previous position as executive director, curatorial affairs at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) in Toronto was from 2010 to 2013,Elizabeth A. T. Smith, Executive Director of Curatorial Affairs, Art Gallery of Ontario and her position as Chief Curator and Deputy Director of Programs at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) was from 1999 to 2009.Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Announces Departure of Elizabeth Smith"A short note on Elizabeth Smith's MCA departure" 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 spread extensively across many areas, including visual art, public art, and architecture from mid-20th century forward, and have continuously advanced the work of many women artists. While at AGO, Smith curated and oversaw exhibitions on the work of artists Yael Bartana and Kim Adams,AGO unveils playful new works by Kim Adams as well as group shows with artists including LaToya Ruby Frazier and Erin Shirreff, and was curator-in-charge of traveling exhibitions such as Abstract Expressionist New York,Abstract Expressionist New York, interview with Elizabeth A. T. Smith Chagall and the Russian Avant-Garde curated by Angela Lampe,Curators Elizabeth Smith and Angela Lampe discuss Chagall and the Russian Avant-Garde and Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée Picasso.Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris

As MCA's Chief Curator, Smith curated solo exhibitions of artists Jenny Holzer,Jenny Holzer: PROTECT, PROTECT Lee Bontecou,Essay on the exhibition, by Collette Chattopadhyay Kerry James Marshall,Kerry James Marshall: One True Thing, Meditations on Black Aesthetics, curated by Elizabeth A. T. Smith Roberto Matta,Matta in America: Decade of Creativity Leaves a Lasting Mark, review of exhibition curated by Elizabeth A. T. Smith Catherine Opie,Description of Elizabeth A. T. Smith's project and exhibition of Catherine Opie's work, in 2006 and Donald Moffett, exhibitions on architecture such as Sustainable Architecture in Chicago: Works in ProgressSustainable Architecture in Chicago: Works in Progress, curated by Elizabeth A. T. Smith and Garofalo Architects: Between the Museum and the City,"Garofalo Architects: Between the Museum and the City," curated by Elizabeth A. T. Smith and many 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,Video, Elizabeth A. T. Smith discussing her exhibition Blueprints for Modern Living: History and Legacy of the Case Study Houses 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",The Architecture of R.M. Schindler, organized by Elizabeth A. T. Smith The architecture of R.M. Schindler and At the End of the Century: 100 Years of Architecture to a survey of the Cindy Sherman's photographsPress release for Cindy Sherman exhibition at Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, curated by Elizabeth A. T. SmithCindy Sherman: Retrospective, by Elizabeth A. T. Smith and the first museum presentations of then-emerging artists Uta Barth,Uta Barth Focus Series, by Elizabeth A. T. Smith Toba Khedoori,Toba Khedoori, with essay by Elizabeth A. T. Smith Catherine Opie,Catherine Opie, published by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and Margaret HondaMargaret Honda: Recto Verso, with text by Elizabeth A. T. Smith as well as a collaboration between artist Kiki Smith and architect Wolf Prix of Coop Himmelblau.Focus Series exhibition Paradise cage, Kiki Smith and Coop Himmelb(l)au, by Elizabeth A. T. Smith

Besides her exhibition catalogues, Smith's writings have appeared in such publications as Do-ho Suh: Drawings;Do Ho-Suh Drawings Chicago Makes Modern; Buckminster Fuller: Starting with the Universe;Buckminster Fuller: Starting with the Universe Design Cities 1851–2008;Design Cities 1851–2008, catalogue. Birth of the Cool;Birth of the Cool and the 54th Carnegie International.54th Carnegie International', catalogue She is the author of Techno Architecture (2000)Techno Architecture and books on the Los Angeles Case Study Houses (2002/2006).Case Study Houses, by Elizabeth A. T. Smith Her essay "Redefining a Practice: Helen Frankenthaler and Painting in the Early 1960s" appeared in the catalogue Helen Frankenthaler: Composing with Color, 1962–1963,Composing with Color: Paintings 1962–1963 co-published by Gagosian Gallery and Rizzoli International Publications in 2014. Her essay on Helen Frankenthaler's use of color was published in a special issue on color in the journal PUBLIC,PUBLIC – Art | Culture | Ideas in October 2015, her text on five sculptors of the 1950s appears in the book "Revolution in the making: Abstract Sculpture by Women 1947–2016,"Revolution in the making: Abstract Sculpture by Women 1947-2016Published by SKIRA for Hauser Wirth & Schimmel and she is the lead essayist in the 2021 book Catherine Opie, Catherine Opie 2021 published by Phaidon Press.

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 StudiesArt/Curatorial Practices in the Public Sphere, USC Roski School of Art and Design 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, and served as an adjunct professor in the Museum Term Program at Bennington College. 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 ChicagoGraham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts and was a 2012 Fellow of the Center for Curatorial LeadershipThe Center for Curatorial Leadership in New York. In 2021 she was awarded by the government of France the insignia of Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, for helping American audiences connect with French artists across decades. France Honors Elizabeth Smith She has served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC),Association of Art Museum Curators and ArtTable, a leadership organization for women in the arts.

In 2004 Smith won the "Best Monographic Museum Show Nationally" award from the Art Critics Association/USA for her exhibition Lee Bontecou: A Retrospective,See: Four L.A. exhibitions top critics' awards, Los Angeles Times, Dec 17, 2004 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."See: Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago's Annual Report, July 1, 2003 June 30, 2004.

References

External links Video: a conversation between Elizabeth A. T. Smith and Khaled Hourani at the Reel Artists Film Festival 2013 Video: a conversation between Elizabeth A. T. Smith and John Elderfield on Helen Frankenthaler: Composing with Color, Paintings 1962–1963 Video: The Contemporary Foundation: Elizabeth A. T. Smith, Joel Wachs and Christy MacLear In Conversation