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The Dinner Party

Judy Chicago

Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art

On View: Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, 4th Floor
About this Brooklyn Icon
The Brooklyn Museum is commemorating its 200th anniversary by spotlighting 200 standout objects in its encyclopedic collection.

Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party (1974–79) is an icon of 1970s American feminist art, one of the most important artworks of the 20th century, and a visitor favorite. The large-scale installation celebrates the lives and achievements of historical and mythical women across Western civilization in the form of a lavish banquet table set for 39. The names of 999 more women stream out on the Heritage Floor. Conceptually daring and visually dazzling, Chicago’s landmark artwork challenges centuries of patriarchal erasure of women’s history. This feat is executed in brilliant detail across the painted and shaped ceramic plates and richly embellished needlework runners, materials specifically chosen for their resonance with so-called women’s work.

Once derided as “3-D ceramic pornography” by a U.S. congressman, The Dinner Party’s symbolic layers reward close looking. They focus on the “central core” (or vulvar) imagery in an unprecedented embrace of body-based abstract art that was highly controversial in the years following its debut. Despite the critics, The Dinner Party was always beloved, attracting droves of visitors eager to see women’s history fully celebrated. The gift of this work to the Brooklyn Museum created the Center for Feminist Art, where the installation is on permanent display and surrounded by rotating galleries of feminist art.
MEDIUM Ceramic, porcelain, textile; triangular table
  • Place Made: United States
  • DATES 1974–1979
    DIMENSIONS 576 x 576 in. (1463 x 1463 cm) each side: 48 ft. (1463.4 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 2002.10
    CREDIT LINE Gift of The Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Work consists of 39 dinner place settings of porcelain flatware (fork, knife and spoon), porcelain chalice, and decorated porcelain plate. Each setting is laid out on a separate embroidered textile runner. Thirteen place settings are on each side (48 feet long) of a triangular table draped with a white felt cloth, with a triangular millennium runner at each of three corners. Each of the settings represents one of thirty-nine historically significant women. The table sits on a floor of 2304 porcelain triangular tiles (in 129 units) inscribed with the names of 999 significant women. The work is introduced by 6 hanging banners woven in the traditional French Aubusson tapestry technique. These banners and the work itself "express the belief and hope that once reverence for the feminine is reestablished on Earth, a balance will be restored to human existence and 'Everywhere will be Eden once again'." Adjacent to the work in the Brooklyn Museum installation hang 7 photographic reproductions of the original Heritage Panels. The accompanying 3 Acknowledgement Panels are reproduced on the Museum's website. All the elements necessary for the installation of the floor and table including 36 ceramic table leg sleeves were designed and fabricated for the work. The lighting and guard rail that came with the work are in the domain of the Design Department and have been replaced for reinstallation in a permanent space.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, 4th Floor
    CAPTION Judy Chicago (American, born 1939). The Dinner Party, 1974–1979. Ceramic, porcelain, textile; triangular table, 576 x 576 in. (1463 x 1463 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of The Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation, 2002.10. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Photo by Donald Woodman, 2002.10_DWoodman_2018_DSC01906.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 2002.10_DWoodman_2018_DSC01906.jpg. Photo by Donald Woodman, 2018
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT © Judy Chicago
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