Vera-Fine Grodzinski
MA PhD
About
Dr Vera Fine-Grodzinski was born in Hungarian-speaking Transylvania in Romania. She grew up in Italy, Austria, and Germany, and was educated in Switzerland and England, before she settled in London, with time spent intermittently in Israel and America.
Vera studied at the J.W. Goethe University in Frankfurt, the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and was awarded an MA (1986) and PhD (2003) at University College London. Her doctoral thesis ‘French Impressionism and German Jews: The Making of Modernist Art Collectors and Art Collections in Imperial Germany’ is awaiting publication.
Vera is a multi-lingual, independent exhibition curator, and a lecturer in modern Jewish history. She attends national and international conferences, with her articles published in academic and cultural journals.
Professional Life
- 2023 – Ongoing: Co-Founder ‘Writing Jewish Women’s Lives’ at Wolfson College, OCLW, University of Oxford
- 1986 – Present: Independent Lecturer, Modern Jewish History
- 1996-97: Co-Curator (with Monica Bohm-Duchen) Exhibition
Rubies & Rebels: Jewish Female Identity in British Contemporary Art, Festival of Film and Culture,
Barbican Gallery, University Gallery Leeds, and Leeds Metropolitan Gallery - 1993: One of the Founding Members, Jewish Women’s Aid
- 1990-94: Director, Art Gallery, Vera Grodzinski, Modern & Contemporary Art, London
- 1989-90: Lecturer at JCC (London Jewish Cultural Centre)
- 1989: Curator: Photo-Documentary Exhibition at National Theatre, Vilna Ghetto to compliment Joshua Sobol’s drama Ghetto, National Theatre, London
- 1988-89: Lecturer & Volunteer, Wagner Program, University of Judaism, Los Angeles, USA
- 1986-98: Independent Curator, Art exhibitions and Cultural Centres
- 1986-88: History Lecturer, Co-ordinator of Cultural and Travel Projects, SPIRO Institute, London
Teaching and Research
- German Jewry
- Jews in Germany and France and the Dreyfus Affair
- Hungarian versus Romanian Jewry 1930-1940s
- Jews and Modernity
- Jews in the Art World as avant-garde Patrons, Dealers and Collectors
- Jewish Women and their contribution to social and cultural history
selected publications
Rubies & Rebels, Exhibition Catalogue
Issues in Architecture Art & Design
The Jewish Quarterly, Magazine of Contemporary Writing and Culture
Conference at University of Heidelberg
Journal of the History of Collections, Oxford University Press
vera-grodzinski.site 