Jacqueline Banigan is a doctoral candidate specializing in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European art. She is currently writing her dissertation, Working the Demi-Monde: How Women Shaped Realist Imagery of the Female Body, which examines intersections of gender, labor, and class in Parisian art during the second half of the nineteenth century. Her research considers how the embodied experiences of studio models, sex workers, performers, barmaids, and retail workers contributed to the production of Realist art.

Jacqueline received her MA and BA degrees in Art History and her certificate in Museum Studies from the University of Iowa. She successfully completed the Museum Seminar Internship Program at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she cataloged the work of Jules Jacquemart, J.J. Grandville, and other nineteenth-century French printmakers. She has also worked with the Stanley Museum of Art, Figge Art Museum, Dubuque Museum of Art, and Old Capitol Museum in Iowa City. Additionally, Jacqueline has long been involved in arts outreach through the Dubuque Area Arts Collective, Studio Works, and, more recently, the University of Iowa’s Office of Community Engagement. In 2025, she is helping to organize the eighth Biennial Grant Wood Symposium and will contribute to the production of the new digital Grant Wood catalogue raisonné.

Research Interests

• Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century French