The art piece created by Judy Chicago named The Dinner Party is a controversial piece created during the feminist movement of the 1970s. The art piece features 39 place settings around a triangular table, each recognizing an important woman from history. Each center plate was created from ceramics and is contorted to represent the woman's accomplishment in one way or another. Along with the 39 place settings, the piece includes 999 names of women inscribed in the center of the entire triangular table set. A total of 1,038 women are honored on this table. The Dinner Party now stands in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art.
When the piece was first created it was subject to harsh criticism from media, other artist, and even politicians. The piece had a hard time trying to find a permanent home in a gallery because of the criticism it received. People were not viewing it as art but as a ploy into the political controversies around the feminist movement at the time.
Take a look at the art work and just see what you get from it...
I learned about this piece in my art class. When we watched the video about the piece, the creation, and criticism it received the reaction seemed to be the same through out the class... whats the problem with it?
We learned that Congressman Robert K. Dornan (R) said that the art piece was "ceramic 3-D pornography".
After hearing his comment almost everyone in the class was shocked and had the basically same response... we didn't see anything pornographic about the piece. And even if the piece was in some way coming across as pornography the feminist movement was about embracing women's bodies? I personally did not see anything wrong with the piece. The piece was meant to represent women in history that had been looked over and was put together during the feminist movement. By being put forward during the feminist movement the piece was guaranteed criticism by many. Women featured in the piece include Emily Dickinson, Georgia O' Keffe, and Virginia Woolf. The shape of the table is an equilateral triangle which is suppose to represent equality.
Many, even including some feminist, have pointed out issues with the piece along with other artists and politicians. One the other hand many feminist have agreed with the piece and the meaning behind it.
You decide..
I think the art piece created by Judy Chicago is fantastic so it's not too surprising to hear that it was a controversial piece. Anything that defies a woman's "natural place" in history is a controversy.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Pablo Picasso did a political piece about war and death, etc. he was congratulated for his piece..
ReplyDeleteThis piece was shot down and I honestly do think its because its about women and it came out during the feminist movement that not a lot of people (men and women) agreed with. Picasso's piece was not shot down because we in a way almost accept war and death.. womens movement? not so much..
Just a thought