The Dinner Party
by Judy Chicago, 1979
Details
- Year
- 1979
- Medium
- Ceramic, porcelain, textile, mixed media
- Size
- 14.6 m (48 ft) per side (triangular table)
Judy Chicago created The Dinner Party between 1974 and 1979 with the help of over 400 volunteers. It's a massive triangular banquet table with 39 place settings, each honoring a significant woman from history, from the Primordial Goddess to Georgia O'Keeffe. The names of another 999 women are inscribed on the white tile floor beneath.
Each setting features a hand-painted ceramic plate with a butterfly or vulva-inspired design, an embroidered runner, and a chalice. The piece was controversial when first shown: some critics called it kitsch, others celebrated it as a landmark of feminist art. It's been permanently installed at the Brooklyn Museum's Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art since 2007.
About The Dinner Party
A triangular banquet table with each side measuring 48 feet (14.6 meters). It has 39 place settings honoring historical and mythical women, from the Primordial Goddess to Georgia O'Keeffe. Another 999 women's names are inscribed in gold on the Heritage Floor tiles beneath.
At the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art in the Brooklyn Museum, New York. It had no permanent home until 2002, when Elizabeth Sackler purchased it and donated it on the condition they build a dedicated feminist art gallery.
It took Judy Chicago five years (1974-1979) with over 400 volunteers. Each place setting features a unique hand-painted china plate, ceramic cutlery, a chalice, and an embroidered runner in needlework styles appropriate to each woman's era.
Chicago deliberately chose materials dismissed as 'women's work' to challenge the art-world hierarchy that devalued craft traditions. The piece toured 16 venues across six countries over nine years, seen by 15 million people before finding its permanent home.
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