Aline B. Saarinen

Commission of Fine Arts profile: CFA Service: 1963–1971; 1963–1971
Aline Bernstein Saarinen was a prominent journalist, art critic, author, and advocate for modern architecture. Early in her career, she was a contributor and managing editor of Art News, and, during the 1950s, she was an associate art editor and associate art critic for the New York Times. In the 1960s she joined NBC as an art and architecture editor and was the art critic for the Today show; later, she became a correspondent with NBC News and served as bureau chief in Paris from 1971 to 1972. In 1954 she married architect Eero Saarinen and became director of information services for his firm, remaining in that position until 1963, two years after her husband’s death. Saarinen wrote numerous articles and two books on art and collectors of art as well as a book on her husband’s work. She served on the Federal Aviation Administration’s Design Advisory Committee, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission. Saarinen graduated in 1935 from Vassar College with an undergraduate degree in English and art and received a master’s degree in architectural history from New York University, Institute of Fine Arts in 1939. Saarinen was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1957 and was awarded the Venice Biennale 1951 Best Foreign Criticism Award; she also received numerous honorary degrees. (https://www.cfa.gov/about-cfa/who-we-are/aline-b-saarinen)