The Dinner Party: From Creation to Preservation
Judy Chicago’s masterpiece The Dinner Party is a monumental work of art conceived as a symbolic history of women in Western civilization. Strategically countering the traditional erasure of women’s achievements, this epic installation honours 1038 iconic, mythical, archetypal and historical women. This, the most definitive book to be published on Chicago’s masterwork, reveals more fully than ever before the art and the artist’s expanded research into the rich history embodied in the...
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Judy Chicago's masterpiece The Dinner Party is a monumental work of art conceived as a symbolic history of women in Western civilization. Strategically countering the traditional erasure of women's achievements, this epic installation honours 1038 iconic, mythical, archetypal and historical women. This, the most definitive book to be published on Chicago's masterwork, reveals more fully than ever before the art and the artist's expanded research into the rich history embodied in the installation. In lively contextualizing sections, Chicago discusses the creative genesis of The Dinner Party, the technical processes involved, and the work's early -- often hostile -- reception by the art world, and its subsequent preservation and permanent exhibition. Paula Frosch - Library Journal In 1979, when feminist multimedia artist Chicago's "The Dinner Party" installation opened at the San Francisco Museum of Art, an ongoing dialog about women's roles and identities was energized. This is at once a short polemic by Chicago defending her personal and artistic style, a description of the effort involved in preserving the work and maintaining its integrity, and a meticulous guide to the installation itself; it is this last characteristic that makes the publication valuable. The elegantly illustrated "Wings" section traces the symbolic guests with place settings as well as offers detailed information about those whose names appear on the Heritage Floor supporting the table. This carefully researched section is an excellent source for those seeking historical groupings of influential women in all periods and aspects of civilization, from primordial goddesses to modern-day physicians. The installation itself is a historical record conceived long before women's studies had a role in higher education. It is in some ways a nostalgic look at the past as well as a reminder that the efforts of the past must be built upon for the future. Recommended for all collections on women's studies and 20th-century art as well as for large academic libraries.
\ From Barnes & NobleNearly 30 years ago, feminist artist Judy Chicago gathered the world's most notable women around a massive triangular banquet table in an spectacular multimedia installation called The Dinner Party. Conceived as a tribute to feminine achievement and collaboratively created by more than 400 female artists and artisans, the project stirred enough critical controversy to seriously curtail its exhibition. Now, at last, the widely recognized masterwork has found a permanent home in the Brooklyn Museum's Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. To celebrate this happy event, Chicago presents the definitive history of her magnum opus in a beautiful commemorative book no art lover will want to be without.\ \ \ \ \ Library JournalIn 1979, when feminist multimedia artist Chicago's "The Dinner Party" installation opened at the San Francisco Museum of Art, an ongoing dialog about women's roles and identities was energized. This is at once a short polemic by Chicago defending her personal and artistic style, a description of the effort involved in preserving the work and maintaining its integrity, and a meticulous guide to the installation itself; it is this last characteristic that makes the publication valuable. The elegantly illustrated "Wings" section traces the symbolic guests with place settings as well as offers detailed information about those whose names appear on the Heritage Floor supporting the table. This carefully researched section is an excellent source for those seeking historical groupings of influential women in all periods and aspects of civilization, from primordial goddesses to modern-day physicians. The installation itself is a historical record conceived long before women's studies had a role in higher education. It is in some ways a nostalgic look at the past as well as a reminder that the efforts of the past must be built upon for the future. Recommended for all collections on women's studies and 20th-century art as well as for large academic libraries.\ —Paula Frosch\ \ \
