#dinnerpartyroots

Mary Wollstonecraft’s life—from her support for women’s education to her groundbreaking treatise “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” and her death after giving birth to Mary Shelley—are presented on her runner using stumpwork, an almost cartoonish technique for creating three-dimensional embroidery. Among scenes from a life of activism, Chicago includes small allusions to the domestic sphere. Apples, birds, flowers, and needlepoint stand in for the trivial lifestyle expected of 18th century women, and the environment that dismissed their accomplishments.

The Dinner Party is a table set for 39 female guests of honor. Each place setting has a unique plate with vulvar form imagery, an embroidered runner executed in a style appropriate to the individual being honored, as well as handmade cutlery and a chalice. The Primordial Goddess setting, the first in Judy Chicago’s iconic artwork, celebrates female creator gods of the Paleolithic. On this theme, the coil around the letter “P” on the calfskin runner represents early baskets and pottery made by women.

After a hugely popular nine-year international tour which included a stop at the Brooklyn Museum, Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party went back into storage in 1988. Two years later, the Trustees of the University of the District of Columbia voted to accept the artwork for their collection. As U.S. Congress controlled the University’s budget, funding for the artwork’s home became a flashpoint for national political debate. Live on C-SPAN, congressmen deemed the work “pornographic” and “offensive,” with few vocal supporters, and Congress ultimately voted to deny the funding to the University.

Judy Chicago mused about the debate: “It wasn’t really a debate, was it? None of them had seen it… an hour and twenty-seven minutes about ‘The Dinner Party’?! When did they run the country?” Following the vote blocking its housing in DC, the artwork remained largely in storage until 2002, when it was featured in a special exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum in advance of the 2007 inauguration of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, where it still resides.

Roots of The Dinner Party | Feminist Flashback Friday

The Dinner Party workers had to lay out the 999 names on the heritage floor with care, clustering the multitude of women around relevant place settings. This organization gives a sense of the shared history of women’s achievement. Ancient goddesses of creation are named in proximity to the Primordial Goddess, while Frida Kahlo, Katharine Hepburn, and Augusta Savage are among the names surrounding Georgia O’Keeffe’s table setting. 

TBT to The Dinner Party's debut at Brooklyn Museum on Oct 18, 1980. This is the final weekend to get one last look into the rich history of Judy Chicago's iconic feminist work. #dinnerpartyroots closes this Sunday, March 2!

Over the course of five years more than 400 volunteers traveled to The Dinner Party studio in Santa Monica, aiding in research, ceramics, needlework, graphics, photography, and, eventually, in organizing the installation’s tour. The acknowledgement panels include photographs and names of these contributors-- including Chicago’s own mother, who helped type up research cards. Many were eager to participate in a “once-in-a-lifetime” feminist project and develop their artistic skills. 

Roots of The Dinner Party | Feminist Flashback Friday

Pieced together from 2,304 individual triangular tiles, the Heritage Floor, like the needlework looms and ceramic processes, required the expertise of industrial designer Ken Gilliam, who created a ceiling platform from which Chicago could view the floor’s unfolding composition. Streams of paper, pieced together from photocopies of Chicago’s handwritten letters, were used to map out the final flow of the floor.  

The 39 women seated at The Dinner Party’s table are literally and figuratively uplifted by the Heritage Floor and its 999 women. Narrowed from 3,000 names, these 999 figures were chosen for their contributions to society, their intent to improve conditions for other women, and their place in either illuminating women’s history or as role models for future action. Each name is painted in Judy Chicago’s handwritten Palmer script using gold luster glaze, catching the light as viewers explore the work from every angle.