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Michelle Vangen

Michelle Vangen

Adj Asst Professor

Art

Biography:

Dr. Michelle Vangen is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art History at the City University of New York at Kingsborough Community College. She received her doctoral degree in Art History from the CUNY Graduate Center in 2017. Dr. Vangen specializes in inter-war German painting, with a focus on the intersection of art, politics, and gender. Her research on the politicization of maternal imagery in Weimar-era Germany has been published in Woman’s Art Journal and presented as part of the Master Series lecture program at the Worcester Art Museum. In Fall 1919, she served as a scholar-advisor for the exhibition, “With Child: Otto Dix/Carmen Winant” (Worcester Art Museum), the first exhibition in the world to focus on images of pregnancy and birth in the art of the German painter Otto Dix. She is currently working on an article examining Dix’s portraits of pregnancy.

Courses:

Art 31 (Survey of Art History: From Prehistory to the Present)

Art 31 Online

Art 33 (Survey of Art History: From Ancient to Renaissance Art)

Art 33 Online

Art 34 (Survey of Art History: Renaissance to 19th-Century Art)

Art 34 Online

Education:

BA, The Ohio State University, 2005

M.Phil., The Graduate Center, CUNY, 2010

Ph.D., The Graduate Center, CUNY, 2017

College Teaching/Institutional Affiliations:

Since 2008 at CUNY Kingsborough; also: Montclair State University (since Fall 2023)

Publications:

Catalog Essay, “Otto Dix’s The Pregnant Woman (1931): A Compelling Portrait of Pregnancy.” In the catalog for With Child: Otto Dix/Carmen Winant. Massachusetts: Worcester Art Museum, 2019.

Catalog Essay, “Albert Bierstadt: ‘A Fond and Faithful Student of Nature.’” In the catalog for Home on the Hudson: Women & Men Painting Landscapes, 1825-1875. New York: Boscobel Restoration Inc., 2009.

Article, “Left and Right: Politics and Images of Motherhood in Weimar Germany.” Woman’s Art Journal 30 (Fall/Winter 2009): 25-30.

Key Dates:

Awarded a 3-year contract in 2017 (renewed in 2020 and 2023)

Research Interests:

Nineteenth and early-to-mid-twentieth-century art, with a focus on German painting and prints; representations of pregnancy, birth, and motherhood in European and American art; modes of realism in inter-war German art; the social impact of art; the political use of art

Fellowships, Grants, and Awards:

Adjunct Professional Development Grant, Professional Staff Congress, City University of New York (2014)

Walter Read Hovey Memorial Fund Fellowship, The Pittsburgh Foundation (2013)

Zantop Travel Award, Coalition of Women in German (2013)

Adjunct Professional Development Grant, Professional Staff Congress, City University of New York (2012)

Doctoral Student Research Grant, The Graduate Center, City University of New York (2011)

Doctoral Student Council Travel Grant, The Graduate Center, City University of New York (2009)

Tuition Fellowship, The Graduate Center, City University of New York (2007-2008)

Professional Societies:

Historians of German, Scandinavian and Central European Art (HGSCEA)

College Art Association (CAA)

Personal Interests:

Camping and hiking (anything outdoors!)

Studying the history of New York’s city and state parks and wilderness areas

Painting

Reading (primarily historical fiction)