Feasting on History: Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party

Feature image: Judy Chicago, The Dinner Party via Frieze Magazine

Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party, 1974-79, is one of the most iconic feminist artworks of the 20th century. First unveiled in 1979, the large installation explores the contributions of women throughout mythology and history. The Dinner Party is a testament to the power of women across civilization, as well as the power of artistic collaboration. 

Judy Chicago emerged as an influential voice in the feminist art movement of the 1970s. Her work examines the role of women in history, mythology, and culture. During the 70s, she founded the first feminist art program in the United States at the University of California, Fresno. Her work combines various skills and mediums, from ceramics to pyrotechnics. Still, The Dinner Party remains her signature work, embodying her vision of a world where women are acknowledged and everyone is provided a seat at the table. 

As an artist and educator, Chicago was influenced by the rapid social changes and emerging ideologies of the 1970s, which highlighted the systemic erasure of women’s achievements and narratives. This movement inspired her large-scale installation of The Dinner Party, which invites viewers to imagine a world in which women’s cultural contributions are fully recognized and celebrated. 

The Dinner Party consists of a triangular table with 39 detailed place settings, each honoring a woman from history or mythology. These women span many periods and cultures, organized into three historical eras: Prehistory to Classical Rome, Christianity to the Reformation, and the American Revolution to the Women’s Revolution. The triangular shape of the table, symbolizing equality, is reinforced by the unique and careful design of each place setting. 

Beneath the table lies the Heritage Floor, an intricately designed platform featuring the names of 999 women inscribed in gold luster. While the 999 names are not an exhaustive list, they are a powerful reminder of the countless women whose contributions have been marginalized or forgotten. The floor serves as a literal and metaphorical foundation for the installation. 

Each place setting is given its own unique tablecloth, runner, cutlery, cup, and plate. No two settings are the same, although some are similar in that they represent women who have inspired one another in their lifetimes. As viewers explore the installation, the plates become three-dimensional, leaping from the table as the women they represent explore unbridled forms of expression. 

The ancient Greek poetess’s plate is adorned with vivid purples, greens, and values, symbolic of her home on the island of Lesbos. Her plate features vulvar imagery, a recurring motif throughout the installation, representing her contributions to female creativity as well as our modern understanding of her fluid sexuality. A lyre, an instrument commonly associated with the readings of Sappho’s poetry, is etched into the “S” on her name, reinforcing her connection to music and poetry. There are numerous references in her setting to her as the “flower of the graces,” a title ascribed to her by contemporary poets. Her runner is an eruption of color, symbolizing her burst of female creativity in an ancient, patriarchal society. 

Known for her dramatic Baroque paintings of biblical heroines, Gentileschi’s place setting incorporates velvet fabrics and a rich color palette, reflecting her distinctive artistic style. The runner is embroidered with a sword that pierced through her name. This sword also pierces through the name of Judith, the subject of several of her works, in her place setting, connecting the two women through their strength and resilience. A butterfly motif is seen throughout the setting, echoing the chiaroscuro technique popularized by Caravaggio, with whom Gentileschi is often compared. Fabric engulfs her place setting from all angles, representing the safe and comfortable environment that her father, Orazio Gentileshci, strived to create for her. The twisting and turning pattern on her plate represents the extraordinary efforts women of her era had to exert to become influential artists. 

As one of the most influential British modernist novelists, Virginia Woolf’s place setting is marked by a blossoming 3-dimensional flower, signifying her advocacy for unbridled creative expression. The flower’s inner seeds symbolize her groundbreaking contributions to literature. The plate bursts through its setting, representing her break from traditional, masculine forms of literature. The light beams below her plate nod to one of her most popular novels, "To the Lighthouse," and the bright path she lit for future women writers. Her runner is embroidered with waves that represent her tragic death by drowning. 

O’Keeffe, whose abstract depictions of flowers are some of the most iconic of the modernist movement, is represented by a plate designed to mirror her 1928 painting Two Calla Lillies on Pink. Historically, O’Keeffe’s work has been thought to represent female genitalia, and this motif is undoubtedly expressed in her place setting. Her runner’s embroidery is in the same style as her skull paintings, with the “G” embroidered in antlers. As the most contemporary woman in the installation, O’Keeffe’s is 3-dimensional. 

Despite its widespread acclaim and public adoration, The Dinner Party has not been without controversy. Its bold use of vulvar imagery has led to the piece being banned in several galleries. Some critics have also pointed out the piece’s lack of diversity, with the only black woman represented being Soujourner Truth, whose plate does not feature the signature vulvar motif. This omission has sparked ongoing debates about the intersection of race and feminism and whether the piece fully represents the diversity of women’s lived experiences. 

Additionally, there have been claims that Chicago took advantage of the women volunteers who helped create the piece. Many hands helped to create the piece, utilizing historically feminine and tedious art forms. These allegations highlight the complexities of artistic collaboration in large-scale pieces. 

The Dinner Party stands as a monumental achievement in the feminist art movement. While the work’s controversies are relevant to discussions of race, class, and artistic labor, its impact is undeniable, especially for a piece created in the 1970s. By imagining women’s place at the table, Judy Chicago has ensured that their legacies will not be forgotten. 

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