Kurt Lang and Gladys Engel Lang

Kurt Lang (January 25, 1924 – May 1, 2019) and Gladys Engel Lang (August 7, 1919 – March 23, 2016) were American sociologists and communications theorists whose early work is associated with the Chicago School. Their research engaged many contemporary problems in communications including the effect of televised politics on the formation of public opinion. They collaborated on a number of intellectual projects after publishing their award-winning seminal essay, "MacArthur Day in Chicago", in 1953.

Kurt Lang had a lifelong interest in art, and his early teachers recognized his own talent as a draftsman and artist. By the 1970s, he and his wife, Gladys, began collecting works of art, often from flea markets and out-of-the way antique sellers. They developed a particular interest in American, British, French, and German prints, and gradually amassed a collection of more than 1,400 prints, drawings, and watercolors – including many by women artists – primarily focused on the painter-etcher movement between the 1860s and World War II as well as the ravages of the Great War and more recent East German artists.

As sociologists, the Langs also sought to understand the process whereby some artists came to be considered worth remembering and others did not, a pursuit that led them to write ''Etched in Memory: The Building and Survival of Artistic Reputation.'' In 2014, the Smith College Museum of Art was delighted to acquire the Gladys Engel Lang and Kurt Lang Collection. In September 2018, the museum launched its first major exhibition of prints drawn almost entirely from the Lang collection and titled “No Man’s Land: Prints from the Front Lines of WWI.” Provided by Wikipedia