G. E. Kidder Smith builds : the travel of architectural photography

The volume represents the very first book dedicated to George Everard Kidder Smith (1913–1997). It deals with his life and work underlining his ability to document and interpret historical architecture and the great buildings. His books were aimed at the layman, and books such as Brazil Builds, Italy Builds, The New Churches of Europe, Pictorial History of Architecture in America, to mention only a few of them, received tremendous critical and popular acclaim. As an author, educator, photographer, and “builder” of books and exhibitions, G. E. Kidder Smith was a multidimensional figure within the wide­-ranging field of North American archi­tectural professionals in the second half of the twentieth century. From his start during the volatile years leading up to, during, and immediately following the Second World War, Kidder Smith excited the imagination of the general public as well as architecture professionals by publishing photography­rich books about new and old buildings in a range of countries. Although Kidder Smith was propelled in his travels by a powerful wanderlust, he was no flaneur. He trained as an architect and 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 traveler, the scholar, and the architect.