Judy Chicago's feminist art installation The Dinner Party was first shown in 1979, after which it toured through many cities, and is now permanently on display at the Brooklyn Art Museum. The work was created through a collaboration of various groups and is a depiction of 39 place sittings representative of 39 famous and mythical women. The table sits atop a tile floor containing the carved names of 999 more women whose lives are mapped out and portrayed on seven surrounding Heritage Panels. The project was created in hopes of honoring women who are continuously and commonly left out of history due to their gender being a diminishing factor for their work or contributions to the world. The triangular table consists of 39 square sections that are filled with 39 separate plates, napkins, utensils and drinking glasses which were painted, sewn and embroidered by a number of volunteers, both men and women. The Dinner Party, due to its connection to the domestic realms of food, cooking and decor is meant to not only be a celebration of these women but a statement of the merit and notability of crafts and domestic art that are usually mocked or uncelebrated in the dominantly male culture of art and art galleries.
Because it was a celebration of female artists and figures, mythical and real, many of the place settings involve some sort of vaginal or vulval imagery or influence. One of the most famous and interesting of these is the author Virginia Woolf's plate:
Woolf's setting consists of a blooming flower plate, which Chicago states as a representation of Woolf's "advocation for unrestricted passion" through her work and her life. Flowers also represent fertility and growth, which women play a large part in throughout life. The center of the flower is also bursting open, a visual meant to represent Woolf's attempts to challenge and break free of the restrictions placed upon her by male literature throughout her career. There is also a stitched light beam beneath the plate, representative of Woolf's book To The Lighthouse and the ability Woolf had to illuminate ideas for others. The waves depicted by Woolf's name are to highlight Woolf's famous novel The Waves and are also a reminder of Woolf's suicide in a river. (more information of Virginia Woolf's plate and others here.)
Another of the place settings belongs to the poet Emily Dickinson. Dickinson was very reclusive and reserved, yet she flourished through her writing. Thus, her place setting, while minimalistic, is still intricate and dynamic like her writing. Her setting also greatly draws upon the aesthetics of the Victorian culture in which she lived. Her plate is not solid and is rather is made from various layers of delicate lace that was saturated into porcelain. Dickinson's place is very feminine because she was trapped in a very divided world that restricted her to stark femininity in terms of expression. Chicago states that Dickinson's place setting was inspired by this poem of Dickinson's:
I HIDE myself within my flower,
That wearing on your breast,
You, unsuspecting, wear me too—
And angels know the rest.
The installation also involved a wall of plaques thanks and commemorating the 129 members of the creative and administrative team of the work for their help and contributions to the piece.
Chicago's The Dinner Party has received much positive and negative criticism. Some regard it as very compelling, intricate and thought-provoking. Others see it as linking women as similar through their anatomy and therefore hurting the diversity of the feminist cause by reducing them to their sexual make up. Additionally, many find the sexual nature of the settings and plates to undermine many of the famous women depicted's works as sexual or gendered in their meanings. Despite the criticisms, Chicago's work still remains very well known today and is currently housed at the Brooklyn Museum in New York.
