Description:
design for table runner in the "Dinner Party" installation. Collaged on to the drawing are several antique fragments of ribbon embroidery done by Constance von Briessen's mother, Madge McCormack Matthiessen. This ribbon embroidery was done the runner utilizing the same antique ribbons and also antique laces inherited.
Label Text:
Fabricated in the late 1970s, The Dinner Party is a monumental installation conceived by Judy Chicago, and probably one of the most significant works of feminist art. Comprised of a triangular table, it has place settings for 39 women selected for their historical achievements or mythical powers. It spans the ages from prehistory through the twentieth century and includes such luminaries as Hatshepsut, Eleanore of Aquitaine, Artemesia Gentileschi, Sacajawea, Jane Austen, Susan B. Anthony, and Georgia O'Keeffe. Each place setting includes a ceramic plate on which a butterfly form rests. Chicago regards the butterfly as "a symbol of liberation and the yearning to be free."
This and AC 1995.21 are preparatory studies for Emily Dickinson's place setting. For Chicago, Dickinson was oppressed by her father, but attained her freedom through her poetry, which "revealed feelings that society had taught women to repress." The pink plate, with its porcelain lace and vulva-shaped center, symbolizes sexual liberation as well.
GM, 2019
Subjects:
Collage; Embroidery Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+1996.9 |
