William J R Curtis is an award-winning historian, critic, writer, curator, painter and photographer. Educated at the Courtauld Institute and Harvard University, he has taught the history of architecture and theories of design at many universities around the world including Harvard, the Architectural Association and the University of Cambridge where he was Slade Professor of Fine Art (2003–04). His best known books include Modern Architecture Since 1900 (third edition, Phaidon, 1996) and Le Corbusier: Ideas and Forms (first edition, Phaidon, 1986), both of which have been widely translated and both of which have been referred to as 'classics'. His Denys Lasdun: Architecture, City, Landscape (Phaidon, 1994) was also published to critical acclaim. Curtis has written over a dozen monographs on diverse aspects of modern and contemporary architecture as well as numerous studies on Le Corbusier. He has published historical, critical and theoretical texts on subjects as varied as Indian architecture, both ancient and modern, Australian aboriginal spear throwers, the history of everyday objects and the role of abstraction in photographs. He also contributes regularly to international critical journals such as the Architectural Review and El Croquis. Curtis exhibits and publishes his own paintings and drawings (Mental Landscapes, Museum of Finnish Architecture, 2000) and photographs (Structures of Light, Alvar Aalto Academy, 2007). Among his numerous awards: the Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain (1984), a National Honors Society Gold Medal in Architecture and Allied Arts, USA (1999), a Medal of the Museum of Finnish Architecture (2006) and a Golden Award for Global Contribution in Architecture (CERA, A+D, India, 2014).