Wonderful Women Wednesday: Ellen Lupton

Each week, the Archives features a woman who has been a groundbreaker at the Smithsonian, past or present, in a series titled Wonderful Women Wednesday.

Ellen Lupton has been a curator of contemporary design at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum since 1992. Some of her recent exhibitions at the Museum include Face Values: Understanding Artificial Intelligence (2019–present), Herbert Bayer: Bauhaus Master  (2019–present), The Senses: Design Beyond Vision, Beauty—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial (2018), How Posters Work (2015–16), and Beautiful Users (2014–15).

Additionally, Lupton is the founding director of the MFA program in graphic design at the Maryland Institute College of Art. 

She is the author or coauthor of numerous books, including Graphic Design: The New Basics: Second Edition, Revised and Expanded (2015), Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students (2014), and Design Your Life: The Pleasures and Perils of Everyday Things (2009).

Lupton graduated with a degree in fine art from Cooper Union in 1985. 

Portrait photograph of Ellen Lupton in a large frame.

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