Judy Chicago attended UCLA, where she became politically active in the NAACP as its corresponding secretary. She moved from LA to New York City in 1959, and returned to Los Angeles and completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in 1962, and her MFA in 1964.
Early abstract works represented male and female sexual organs, and were controversial for the time and the school. Her first show was at Rolf Nelson Gallery, in 1965. Her political position during this time of her life was to eschew labels that categorized her art and, thus, although invited, she did not participate in the 1968 "California Women in the Arts" exhibition.
I first learned about Judy Chicago in the late 1970s, when her piece "The Dinner Party" toured and I saw it installed at the Boston Cyclorama. The work is a triangular dining room table with 39 place settings, each representing a female mythical character or woman from history. The place settings start as simple, almost naïve pieces and become more dimensional and dynamic as the timeline progresses. The Dinner Party is a significant piece of feminist art, in my view, perhaps the most significant piece of feminist art in the world. It is now part of the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Museum, and I highly recommend a viewing.
Judy Chicago is one of the most important artists in history and has taught or been in residence at Vanderbilt University, Western Kentucky University, Duke University, University of North Carolina, Indiana University, College of St. Catherine, California State University - Fresno, UC - Irvine, and the UCLA Extension Program, among others.
The Dinner Party at Brooklyn Museum: https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/dinner_party
Watch a discussion of The Dinner Party: https://youtu.be/aNMnHlwoLc0
Photo credit:
Donald Woodman - Megan Schultz
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