Judy ChicagoBesprekingen

Amazing!

Judy Chicago (b. 1939) relates her experiences and struggles in the art world and fine arts academia up to the mid-1970s (this was first published in 1975). It isn't just her struggle, however -- it's also about women from that era who sought to be artists. Chicago relates her experiences with the feminist art movement, and it was illuminating to read this perspective as it was happening, rather than through the lens of the modern era. Lots to mull over -- I'd say there's been some improvement in attitudes since, but there's still a ways to go.

I strongly recommend this to every female artist. I wish I had read this sooner.

Judy Chicago really began the feminist art movement. Her artistic and historical scope was and is unprecedented. The Dinner Party first brought attention to hundreds upon hundreds of overlooked women ignored by history.½

This book highlights the struggle of women artists to make careers for themselves in a male-dominated field/society. She seems brutally honest about herself and the relationship she has with her husband. I think things have changed a tad almost 35 plus years on, but the struggle nevertheless continues. Highlights the fact that our society tends to put a premium on what we accomplish versus what we might be able to make of ourselves.

Meine Kämpfe als Künstlerin

A symbol of our heritage

I was intersted in Chicago's personal perceptions, and the details of her work and life. She knows that her work has not been given the prominence it deserves because she is a woman. I agree with her, even though this book included much self-advertising. I also wonder whether her pesonality is a partial reason for her exclusion from the art community, but I'm sure there are men who are not terribly likable who are included in the art community.½

I had the good fortune to acquire this commemorative volume at the 1996 showing of Judy Chicago's "Dinner Party" in Los Angeles. The room-sized artwork itself is intended to describe the struggle of women throughout history to achieve full participation in society and it makes extensive use of the traditional "feminine" art of needlework.

The book would, I think, give an excellent idea of the installation for anyone who has never seen it. There is one color plate of the entire room with its dimmed lighting that conveys the atmosphere of near religious awe experienced by those who walked slowly and quietly around it. Additional color plates show close-ups of the individual place settings and details of embroidery.

The book also has a section for each of the historical periods, with biographies of the women honored, as well as an introduction that describes the creation of the work and its early, controversial years.

Unbelievable beauty.

The book reminds me of Tom Wolfe's comments, in his brilliant book The Painted Word, that in modern art, one can't see the picture without a theory and that thus the explanatory notes posted next to the painting are more important than the work itself. Wolfe was talking chiefly about non-representational art, but it applies here too. The book's theme makes it necessarily political, but Lucie-Smith and Chicago never manage to coherently explain why a piece of art by a man oppresses women and a virtually identical piece by a woman liberates them. It certainly isn't anything in the piece itself. Apparently one needs a label explaining that this particular piece is/is not politically correct. They acknowledge that this is a problem, but never manage to resolve it, which considerably weakens their thesis. This was a reasonably interesting book in that I saw works I was unfamiliar with and found the names of a few artists that I wanted to investigate further - one of them was in the book as an example of how woman should NOT do art. I certainly didn't finish the book feeling that at last I have found artists who express my life as woman of this culture.

Lending

VG copy. Softcover