Spotlighting Feminism – Judy Chicago

2 days ago

Written by Cressie Edmondson

In 1970, following the wave of feminist activity, an increase in recognition of the women’s liberation movement, Linda Nochlin questioned the results of the movement.

“After revolution comes the reckoning. Exactly what has been accomplished...what changed as a result of feminist movement in art?” (Susan Ballard and Agnieszka, 2015, 7)

Art in this era strived to move away from traditional values which included the male gaze and taboos. She is not celebrating the successes of feminism but questioning whether the change is permanent and here to stay. As a pioneering feminist art historian, she relentlessly analyses the position of women in art, despite clear ameliorations. She questions the state of equality in the art world.

Chicago in the male-dominated art world

Born in 1939, American artist Judy Chicago has embodied female empowerment from the beginning of her career, her work consistently placing women at the centre of the (artistic?) conversation. Having been born in Chicago and raised as Judy Sylvia Cohen, Chicago attended college at UCLA, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1962 and Master of Fine Arts in 1964. Following her father’s death, Cohen re-named herself Judy Chicago; an act of defining herself as an independent woman, separate from any male figure in her life. Chicago’s renaming however constituted an act of independence and self-definition that was radical in an era dominated by male artists and voices.

The Dinner Party: Reclaiming History, One Place Setting at a Time

Chicago’s arguably most iconic work, The Dinner Party, redefines the place of women in art history. The installation is constituted by a triangular table, which has been set for a banquet to which only women have been invited. Even the work’s title betrays an interesting provenance in considering Chicago’s broader work. Having been asking why she had chosen to represent a dinner party, Chicago retorted, “while men have their last supper, women have their dinner parties”. The installation initially started as being twenty-five china plates to be hung on a wall, titled Twenty-five Women Who Were Eaten Alive, showing how women had been ‘swallowed up and obscured by history instead of being recognized and honored’ (Chicago, 1979, 8) However, in the planning of the project she visited a china-painter who worked in dinner service. It was at this point Chicago decided the plates should be situated on a table. The table context according to Chicago was more feminine and domestic as it related to women’s previous position in society (Brooklyn Museum,2025). The final table in an equilateral triangle shape represented for Chicago, ‘the goal of feminism - an equalized world’ (Chicago, 1979, 12). Each of these parts of planning demonstrated its feminist focus.

At first glance at The Dinner Party – now permanently housed in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum - the viewer is confronted by a Dinner Party in which each of the thirty-nine female subjects has been represented as a vulva'. A traditionally taboo body part, the vulva representing iconic and dare I say, taboo and controversial women in history: those perhaps held back by the inconvenient and innately controversial marriage of their revolutionary thoughts with their womanhood. On the three sides of the triangle, different eras were represented. Wing One represented Prehistory to Classical Rome, wing two represented Christianity to the Reformation and finally wing three represented American Revolution to the Women's Revolution. Famous women include artists such as Artemisia Gentileschi and Georgia O’Keeffe, novelists such as Virginia Woolf, physician Elizabeth Blackwall, woman’s rights activist Mary Wollstonecraft. Prehistory to Classical Rome figures were Sappho, Hatshepsut, Judith of Holofernes and Boadicea.

In her 2018 reproduction of The Dinner Party, Chicago added yet more names, of women such as Queen Elizabeth I and Sappho. Alongside the thirty-nine place settings are laid a ‘Heritage Floor’. In naming it ‘Heritage Floor’, Chicago is underscoring its purpose to honour these women’s legacy which sits in the middle of the triangle, featuring 998 names of women, and one man (the man was included by mistake). This inclusion of the man created by mistake illustrated in the place setting of Juno. They included the artwork to acknowledge that persistence of male centred narratives in art. This artwork is one of the most iconic and controversial works in feminist art history. Controversial in the sense that its subject focus is the vulva. This artwork was a beacon of women’s success as it redefined the boundaries of female art and focused on women succeeding and undermining patriarchal values.

Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 Judy Chicago, The Dinner Party, 1972 and Judy Chicago, The

Dinner Party, 1972 (Detail), Ceramic, porcelain, textile, (1463 × 1463 cm).

The birth of feminist art creation and education

In addition to her art, Chicago was a trailblazer for feminist education in art history. Alongside Miriam Shapiro, Chicago founded the first feminist art program in 1971: Womanhouse. Having been denied a studio in which to teach by California Institute of the Arts, Chicago channelled her frustration at California’s male-dominated art world by working co-operatively with fellow artists, transforming an abandoned building into a feminist art space. Womanhouse challenged the status quo, demonstrating the need to recognise women's voices and perspectives in art. it also demonstrated the tenacity of feminist artists.

The Womanhouse exhibition took place from January 30 – February 28, 1972. The simplicity of the exhibition’s title was an attempt to “democratise art education and art making” and one of its basic functions was to “make viewers sensitive to and aware of women’s issues” (…). In the exhibition, there were a range of artworks, but the room which shocked viewers was titled Menstruation Bathroom, depicting a bathroom with menstrual cycle and period paraphernalia. Spectators openly shared their disregard for this installation, no surprise some of them were men. The aim of this room was to show that ‘: women's blood is not an expression of shame, but of power’ (Mary Garrard,1995, 475-476) If Judy Chicago is anything to go off, then women should be proud: Chicago created a path which is beginning to be well trodden. Chicago was and still is a pioneering artist.

Fig. 4. The front page of the exhibition catalogue for "Womanhouse" (January 30 – February 28, 1972)

Redefining childbirth

Chicago’s artworks also insist upon demolishing artistic hierarchies, making craft haute culture in her series, The Birth Project (1980-85), in which she collaborated with 150 needleworkers to produce a multitude of images of giving birth, seeking to redefine it as beautiful. This took place after she noticed an absence in iconography showing childbirth because it was seen as taboo. This approach in comparison to my previous article’s artist, really brightens up the thought of childbirth and shows the beauty and femininity and happiness, a juxtaposition to that of Tracey Emin. This collaborative work resulted in beautiful artworks, notably The Creation (1984) and In The Beginning (1982) attached below.

Fig 5. Judy Chicago, The Creation, 1984, Modified Aubusson Tapestry

Fig 6. Judy Chicago, In The Beginning, 1982, Modified Aubusson Tapestry

Revelations: Chicago’s reclamation in 2024

In August 2024, I attended Judy Chicago’s Revelations exhibition at the Serpentine gallery. The exhibition consisted of various artworks, some which showed the thoughts behind The Dinner Party as well as new artworks. Continuing Chicago’s advocacy for prioritising women and women’s craft, Chicago exhibited a quilt embodying these questions. The quilt was called the What if Women Ruled The World Quilt. The creation was a testament to the traditionally feminine craft of quilt-making. She made the quilt in collaboration with Maria Grazia Chiuri, an Italian fashion designer who is the creative director of Dior. This work was in support of gender rights. Chicago also collaborates with Pussy Riot leader, Nadya Tolokonnikova on this project. The collaboration is significant because of their joint goals for gender equality: Grazia Chiuri has been an advocate for women’s rights and Tolokonnikova is a well-known outspoken activist in Russia. The quilt showed testimonies and answers to the many questions posed. At the end of the exhibition, there was an opportunity to answer some of the questions she had posed in her artworks in the exhibition. Questions like ‘what if women ruled the world?’, ‘would God be female?’, ‘would old women be revered?’ and ‘would buildings resemble the womb?’. My personal favourite question posed in the exhibition and the one I decided to answer in the post exhibition interview was ‘would both men and women be strong?’. To which I answered ‘ I believe both men and women would be strong because there would be more openness about emotions which may reduce toxic masculinity. The maternal sentiments of women would rub off on men and men would be equally emotionally strong’.

Fig. 7. Installation view of “Judy Chicago: Revelations” (2024), Serpentine North

Judy Chicago in the art world was a force to be reckoned with. Her pioneering stance has made her a feminist icon in art history. Her presence in the art influenced the feminist wave of the 1970s and changed art history. Her presence is still felt in the 2020s with Revelations taking place only last year. As a result of the feminist art movement and Chicago, much has changed! While women are still on a journey toward complete equality, Chicago’s contributions have undeniably improved their position in the art world! Whilst she is a veteran of the feminist art movement, her artwork is far from irrelevant. Long may her artwork creation continue!