| Maker(s): | Chicago, Judy
| | Culture: | American (1939 - )
| | Title: | Study for "Shame"
| | Date Made: | 1988
| | Type: | Print
| | Materials: | Wood engraving printed in black on textured white paper
| | Place Made: | United States
| | Measurements: | sheet: 10 3/16 in x 8 3/8 in; 25.9 cm x 21.3 cm; image: 4 7/8 in x 3 7/8 in; 12.4 cm x 9.8 cm
| | Narrative Inscription: | title, edition, initials and date in pencil along bottom: Study for Shame [Shame underlined] 2/5 JC '85
| | Accession Number: | SC 2012.1.3
| | Credit Line: | Gift of The Pokross Art Collection, donated in accordance with the wishes of Muriel Kohn Pokross, class of 1934 by her children, Joan Pokross Curhan, class of 1959, William R. Pokross and David R. Pokross Jr. in loving memory of their parents, Muriel Kohn Pokross, class of 1934 and David R. Pokross
| | Museum Collection: | Smith College Museum of Art
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Description:
three figures layered on top of each other; first figure has open mouth with lines pouring out of it; figure layered over that has open mouth and crys; final figure holds proper left arm with proper right; proper left hand covers face; proper left arm has band with Star of David
Label Text:
“How far can we cross over to another human being’s experience? That seems to me where art has a major role to play.”
– Judy Chicago
Judy Chicago is one of the most prominent voices in feminist art history. An artist, teacher, and organizer, Chicago launched a Female Art Class at Fresno State College, California in 1970, and in 1971 became the joint founder of the Feminist Art Program at the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, the first program of its kind in the United States.
Och Un Vai (What a Shame) and Study for Shame combine Chicago’s lifelong commitment to exploring gender and identity with her interest in the Holocaust as an under-represented subject in art. From 1984 to 1993, Chicago created The Holocaust Project: Darkness to Light, a multi-media installation, with her husband the photographer Donald Woodman. The installation represented the atrocities of the Holocaust as part of a larger history of politically motivated oppression, torture, and genocide, including images of sexism, homophobia, environmental rape, and nuclear proliferation. As Chicago put it, “The unique experience of the Holocaust could be a window into an aspect of the unarticulated but universal human experience of victimization.”
“Och un vai” is a Yiddish expression meaning “What a shame” or “Tough luck.” The title is an ironic understatement of the violation suggested by the posture and body language of the androgynous figure in the foreground.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+2012.1.3 |
