Judy Chicago (born Judith Sylvia Cohen; July 20, 1939 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American feminist artist and writer known for her large collaborative art installation pieces which examine the role of women in history and culture. Born in Chicago, Illinois, as Judith Cohen, she changed her name after the death of her father and her first husband, choosing to disconnect from the idea of male dominated naming conventions. By the 1970s, Chicago had coined the term "feminist art" and had founded the first feminist art program in the United States. Chicago's work incorporates stereotypical women's artistic skills, such as needlework, counterbalanced with stereotypical male skills such as welding and pyrotechnics. Chicago's masterpiece is The Dinner Party, which is in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum.
Because we are denied knowledge of our history, we are deprived of standing upon each other's shoulders and building upon each other's hard earned accomplishments. Instead we are condemned to repeat what others have done before us and thus we continually reinvent the wheel. The goal of 'The Dinner Party' is to break this cycle.
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Fact
1
Judy Gerowitz Chicago, artist, feminist, educator, founder of the Women's Art Education collective, and author of many books, including 'Through the Flower: My Struggle as a Woman Artist' (1965) and 'The Dinner Party: A Symbol of our Heritage' (1979). Her Through the Flower company is a non-profit organization dedicated to the exhibition and preservation of her participatory projects. She works in a variety of media, including such traditionally "feminine" crafts as needlework and china painting. Her best-known work, 'The Dinner Party' (1974-1978), is a sexually explicit multimedia installation executed by Chicago and other women. She was the older of two children born into a Jewish family. She took art lessons at the age of 8, and eventually studied at the University of California at Los Angeles.
2
Her relationship with her husband, Jerry Gerowitz, was reputedly a stormy one; he died in a car crash two years after they married.
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
SexTV
2005
TV Series documentary
Herself
To the Contrary
1996
TV Series
Herself
Judy Chicago and the Dinner Party
1983
TV Movie documentary
Herself
Creativity with Bill Moyers
1982
TV Series documentary
Herself
Omnibus
1981
TV Series documentary
Herself
Right Out of History: The Making of Judy Chicago's Dinner Party