Judy Chicago was not her given name. She was born into a liberal party in Chicago. She married a man who had been killed in an accident. After this incident, she decided she wanted a neutral name. Judy didn’t want to go from her father’s last name to her husband’s last name. Instead, she picked the city she was from as her last name. She has always been known as Judy Chicago, even if she remarried. Judy Chicago's claim to fame was when she chose female genitalia as the motif for the plate designs for the 39 settings. She was taking and transforming the vagina into the phallic symbol. Judy Chicago is an artist that’s very closely associated with Second Wave Feminist Art. Second Wave Feminist Art was an art that evolved in the 1970s and on into the 80s and 90s. It focused on recognizing women as art makers. Recognizing and bringing into the museum world the craft materials that women traditionally work with that are usually excluded from the museum world. She also supported collaborative work by women artists. Judy Chicago as a teacher, this project opened her mind to the power of the female collective in the idea of historical erasure in 1979. She embarked on an ambitious project, called the Dinner Party which was a large installation. This consisted of 400 workers. Celebrating 1,038 actual women of achievement. A tribute to all women. This project took five years. 400 women and men, 39 place settings, honoring a female figure who helped form the western civilization. It’s titled, “Dinner Party” and it references Leonardo DaVinci’s “Last Supper” or last suppers in general. It also references social organization that women tended to have lots of association with organizing a dinner party. There are China painting and embroidery the table runners, reflect each woman’s unique accomplishments. This piece consists of imagery of butterflies, flowers, and vulvars. An art critic said in an article in 2002, when the installation was up at the Brooklyn Museum, “call it what you will: Kitsch, pornography, anti-fat, feminist, propaganda, or a major work of 20th century art it doesn’t make much difference, the dinner party, the extravagant, ceramic and textile homage to women through history that Judy Chicago dreamed of and translate it into reality in the 1970s.” Judy Chicago has included not just artists; but writers, scientists, historians, political activists. All of these great female names from history and myths. Each tile has the name of an important woman contributor to civilization and culture. From 1974- 1979 Judy Chicago oversaw this project. Judy Chicago’s name is associated with this piece, but over 400 women helped paint the porcelain pieces, made the fabric, made the tiles, did the writing. Those women are named on banners when you enter this gallery in the Brooklyn Museum. The gallery is darkened and people have a reverential attitude when they enter, it looks and feels like a sacred space.
Thank you for reading part 1 of 4 in the 1st-3rd feminism. I hope you enjoyed discussing Judy Chicago. Next week we will be discussing first wave feminist artist apart of the WomanHouse.
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