Joan Pachner, a David Smith scholar since the 1980s, has published and lectured widely on the artist’s work. She pioneered the study of the artist’s photographs in an essay in David Smith: Photographs 1931–1965 (1998). She has also lectured and written about the artist’s life at Bolton Landing in the Adirondacks, notably the 'The Concept is Primary. The Medium is Secondary' lecture part of the programme 'A Sculptor’s Eye: David Smith & Photography' in 2006, and has contributed to such publications as The Fields of David Smith (1997) and Painted Steel: The Late Work of David Smith (1998). As an independent art historian, she specializes in modern sculpture and lectures at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.