[3][4][5] Born in 1948 in New York City and raised in Lawrence, Kansas,[6] Smith studied at Grinnell College in Iowa.

While at the Paula Cooper Gallery Smith wrote exhibition reviews for Artforum, and subsequently for Art in America, the Village Voice and other publications.

She has written and spoken about Judd on many occasions throughout her career, and upon his death in 1995, penned his New York Times obituary.

[9][10][11] Smith began writing for The New York Times in 1986, and became the newspaper's co-chief art critic in 2011.

[15] Smith married Jerry Saltz, senior art critic for New York magazine, in 1992.