Judy Chicago: Roots of the Dinner Party: History in the Making

Since the 1970s, Judy Chicago (born 1939) has been a pioneer in the development of feminism as an artistic movement and an educational project that endeavors to restore women’s place in history. Her most influential and widely known work is the sweeping installation The Dinner Party (1974–79), celebrating women’s achievements in Western culture in the form of a meticulously executed banquet table set for 39 mythical and historical women and honoring 999 others. One of the most important artworks of the 20th century, upon its public debut in 1979 it immediately became an icon of feminist art.

Roots of the Dinner Party was published for the first museum exhibition to examine Chicago’s evolving plans for The Dinner Party in depth, detailing its development as a multilayered artwork, a triumph of community art-making and a testament to the power of historical revisionism.