Kathryn Smith

Kathryn Smith is an author, lecturer, educator, and historic preservation consultant specializing in Frank Lloyd Wright and his contemporaries R.M. Schindler, Lloyd Wright, and Richard Neutra. She was one of the first scholars to have complete access to the unpublished drawings and letters of Wright at the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives at Taliesin West, Arizona. Her groundbreaking research into the history of Wright's Imperial Hotel (Tokyo, Japan; 1913-23) and his Los Angeles buildings from 1919-1924 were the foundation for a new understanding of Wright's middle period. In 2001, she was awarded the Wright Spirit Award in the Professional category by the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy for her scholarship and contributions to preservation of Wright's standing buildings. She has published books and contributed chapters and essays to a total of thirty five (35) publications. She has been a Rizzoli International author over a series of books, which include the series Frank Lloyd Wright The Houses, The Buildings, The Prairie Houses. Along with these, she published FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT: AMERICAN MASTER, a career survey. Several of her books have been translated and appear in foreign editions. Kathryn Smith's WRIGHT ON EXHIBIT was selected by METROPOLIS magazine (New York) in the April 2017 issue as one of the "25 BOOKS TO READ THIS SPRING" in the field of architecture. This book was researched and written under a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities. It is published by Princeton University Press. She spoke on this subject at a conference at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, on September 14, 2017 during the major Wright retrospective. Under a fellowship from the Graham Foundation for the Arts, she completed FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT, HOLLYHOCK HOUSE AND OLIVE HILL: PROJECTS AND BUILDINGS FOR ALINE BARNSDALL (1992), which Alice Friedman in the SAH Journal declared the "the definitive history, providing important new insights." Andrew Mead, in the ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL, described the book as "Exemplary, meticulously researched, lucidly written." A portfolio of color images of Hollyhock House was commissioned for this Rizzoli book. Over a ten year period, she was a guest of Mrs. Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Fellowship at Wright's homes in Wisconsin and Arizona. With scholarly and personal knowledge, she wrote FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT'S TALIESIN AND TALIESIN WEST, fully illustrated in archival photographs and color images commissioned by Smith for her book. She has also published widely with Rizzoli International. Parallel with her publishing, Smith acted as a historic preservation consultant for the Wright properties of Taliesin (Wisconsin), Florida Southern College, Graycliff (Buffalo), Barnsdall Park (Hollywood). In 2003, she was Scholar-in-Residence at Wright's Robie House (Chicago). In 2012-13, she served on the Committee to Preserve Taliesin West. Her expertise encompasses Wright's entire 70 year career and has expanded from architecture to also include his work in landscape design. Her seminal article on Wright's waterfall buildings, which she originally gave as a lecture at the 50th anniversary of Fallingwater, was anthologized by Robert Carter in ON AND BY FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT (Phaidon). Her book, SCHINDLER HOUSE, has become a classic. David Soltesz wrote in the LIBRARY JOURNAL, that this book "... does more to promote an appreciation of this legendary abode than any prior publication." An essay on the innovative landscape designs of Wright, Schindler, and Neutra was published in PRIVATE LANDSCAPES. She has completed seven (7) journals for Organic Architecture and Design Archives (OAD) from 2018 to 2024 on Wright buildings from Taliesin to the Della Walker House, a historic period that extends from 1907 to 1952. Smith has lectured widely including at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Art Institute of Chicago, the Smithsonian, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Taliesin West. She has appeared in several Wright documentaries, including two in Japan.