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At long last, ‘Dinner’ is served
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BY: SUSAN H. KAHN Assistant Editor
“The Dinner Party,” Judy Chicago’s controversial feminist art project, finds a permanent home
For 28 years, “The Dinner Party” has been a moveable feast. Conceived by Jewish feminist artist Judy Chicago, the monumental multimedia project is a symbolic history of women in Western Civilization. Since 1979, the work has been exhibited in 15 venues in six countries, including The Civic in Cleveland Heights. But until now, the banquet had no permanent home.
On March 23, “The Dinner Party” became the centerpiece of the new Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art in New York’s Brooklyn Museum. The first public space of its kind in the country, the center’s mission is to present feminist art and explore its meaning and influence through a wide variety of public programs.
The wing and the artwork are the gift of Jewish philanthropist Elizabeth A. Sackler, a Ph.D. in public history who has been active in repatriating Native American ritual objects. The academic struck up a friendship with Chicago in 1988, and she became one of several champions seeking a permanent home for what many regard as the feminist art movement’s most iconic work.
Triangular in configuration, “The Dinner Party” is made up of an immense open table, covered with white hand-embroidered cloths and set with 39 handmade ceramic place settings, each of which commemorates an important woman in myth or history.
The whole installation rests on a porcelain tile surface, the Heritage Floor, inscribed with the names of 999 additional women of historical significance. Conceptualized as a reinterpretation of the Last Supper, where “women would be the honored guests,” Chicago executed the project over four-years with the participation of hundreds of volunteers.
One of those volunteers was University Heights resident Suzanne Tishkoff. Inspired by hearing Judy Chicago speak at Case Western Reserve University, Tishkoff, herself a painter, traveled to Chicago’s California studio in the late ’70s to see the work-in-progress and offer her help.
“When Judy asked me what I wanted to do, I told her that there weren’t enough Jewish women represented,” recalls Tishkoff. “I offered to research more women for possible inclusion.”
Tishkoff is pleased that Chicago added most of her suggestions.
“I got Molly Picon added and Rosa Luxemburg. The piece includes Emma Goldman, Hannah Senesch and Henrietta Szold.”
Mickey Stern has also been involved with “The Dinner Party” for decades. The Cleveland resident first became aware of Chicago’s impressive work when she attended a screening of the documentary “The Making of ‘The Dinner Party’” in 1979. It was sponsored by the Ohio Chicago Art Project, a group that was trying to bring the work to Northeast Ohio.
“I was stunned; it blew me away,” she recalls. “The enormity of the piece … the history and contributions it was uncovering!”
Joining the group, Stern began rallying support by organizing more screenings of the film. Each time it was shown, she says, “viewers became impassioned.”
One of those viewers was Marcia Levine. “Judy’s work uncovered the erasure of women’s accomplishments,” says the Shaker Heights resident who also joined the Ohio Chicago Art Project.
When a potential exhibition site in Akron fell through, Stern and several others began looking for a Cleveland venue for “The Dinner Party.” Given the work’s dimensions (48 feet per side) and its subject matter, this was a daunting task.
“We knew the Cleveland Museum of Art would never show it,’ says Stern. “Sherman Lee (the museum’s director) was pretty conservative and this work was too unconventional and controversial.”
It didn’t help that some well-known art critics had called it kitsch. Others were offended by some of the plates, sculpted to resemble female genitalia. Still others belittled the work, drawing a distinction between art and crafts.
“Plates and embroidery n that was ‘women’s work!’’’ says Stern, mocking the naysayers.
Eventually, the site committee visited The Civic (formerly Heights Temple), and a dozen members of an ad hoc committee pledged $125,000 of their own money to make the deposit on the rent.
This was hardly the end of their efforts. The Ohio Chicago Art Project soon discovered it would take an additional $80,000 to renovate the shabby social hall and provide security for the artwork. To raise funds, the group sold sponsorships of the plates and table runners; they tapped into in-kind donations of labor and material.
“We had to become a little museum,” says Levine. “We needed to hire staff, do publicity and train docents. We even created a gift shop and a coffee shop.”
In 1980, “The Dinner Party” opened at The Civic with the help of two employees and 400 volunteers coordinated by Tishkoff. Hugely popular, it drew 30,000 visitors over its three-month run. During the last three weeks, Stern recalls, people were lined up out the door.
“It brought together a such a diverse audience,” says Levine. “It attracted feminists, gays and lesbians, stitch ...”
When the exhibit closed, the Ohio Chicago Art Project cleared $70,000. They used $40,000 to create The Women’s Community Foundation of Cuyahoga County, a grant-making organization dedicated to supporting various women-related community programs. They donated the remainder to various other women’s nonprofits.
Over the next two decades, “The Dinner Party” toured periodically, but mostly it languished. A nonprofit organization, Through the Flower, became the conservator of the work and built a museum-quality storage building in New Mexico to house it. Stern and Levine served on Through the Flower’s board of trustees for years.
In 2002, the Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation acquired “The Dinner Party,” donated it to the Brooklyn Museum, and provided the funds to build a wing to house it and showcase other feminist art. Levine, Stern and Tishkoff, accompanied by Tishkoff’s two college-age granddaughters, attended last month’s opening.
Levine describes the setting where “The Dinner Party” is installed as “breathtaking,” a unique triangular gallery with gray glass walls. “The walls reflect light, and the whole room just glows! The piece has such power, a hush falls when people view it.”
Levine toured the Sackler wing with her 21-year-old grandson, who she says has been hearing about “The Dinner Party” since he was 5. He told her, “Now I see why you were so involved all these years.”
Tishkoff’s granddaughter Sarah McGarrity, 20, feels, “‘The Dinner Party’ might not speak to women of my generation,” since the younger generation was “highly under- represented.”
Stern, attending with her husband Albert, says, “Finding a permanent home for “The Dinner Party” was a dream come true, the culmination of years of hard work. When I first saw the piece, it changed my life, and I wanted every woman in the world to see it. Now more women will have this opportunity.”
skahn@cjn.org
For 28 years, “The Dinner Party” has been a moveable feast. Conceived by Jewish feminist artist Judy Chicago, the monumental multimedia project is a symbolic history of women in Western Civilization. Since 1979, the work has been exhibited in 15 venues in six countries, including The Civic in Cleveland Heights. But until now, the banquet had no permanent home.
On March 23, “The Dinner Party” became the centerpiece of the new Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art in New York’s Brooklyn Museum. The first public space of its kind in the country, the center’s mission is to present feminist art and explore its meaning and influence through a wide variety of public programs.
The wing and the artwork are the gift of Jewish philanthropist Elizabeth A. Sackler, a Ph.D. in public history who has been active in repatriating Native American ritual objects. The academic struck up a friendship with Chicago in 1988, and she became one of several champions seeking a permanent home for what many regard as the feminist art movement’s most iconic work.
Triangular in configuration, “The Dinner Party” is made up of an immense open table, covered with white hand-embroidered cloths and set with 39 handmade ceramic place settings, each of which commemorates an important woman in myth or history.
The whole installation rests on a porcelain tile surface, the Heritage Floor, inscribed with the names of 999 additional women of historical significance. Conceptualized as a reinterpretation of the Last Supper, where “women would be the honored guests,” Chicago executed the project over four-years with the participation of hundreds of volunteers.
One of those volunteers was University Heights resident Suzanne Tishkoff. Inspired by hearing Judy Chicago speak at Case Western Reserve University, Tishkoff, herself a painter, traveled to Chicago’s California studio in the late ’70s to see the work-in-progress and offer her help.
“When Judy asked me what I wanted to do, I told her that there weren’t enough Jewish women represented,” recalls Tishkoff. “I offered to research more women for possible inclusion.”
Tishkoff is pleased that Chicago added most of her suggestions.
“I got Molly Picon added and Rosa Luxemburg. The piece includes Emma Goldman, Hannah Senesch and Henrietta Szold.”
Mickey Stern has also been involved with “The Dinner Party” for decades. The Cleveland resident first became aware of Chicago’s impressive work when she attended a screening of the documentary “The Making of ‘The Dinner Party’” in 1979. It was sponsored by the Ohio Chicago Art Project, a group that was trying to bring the work to Northeast Ohio.
“I was stunned; it blew me away,” she recalls. “The enormity of the piece … the history and contributions it was uncovering!”
Joining the group, Stern began rallying support by organizing more screenings of the film. Each time it was shown, she says, “viewers became impassioned.”
One of those viewers was Marcia Levine. “Judy’s work uncovered the erasure of women’s accomplishments,” says the Shaker Heights resident who also joined the Ohio Chicago Art Project.
When a potential exhibition site in Akron fell through, Stern and several others began looking for a Cleveland venue for “The Dinner Party.” Given the work’s dimensions (48 feet per side) and its subject matter, this was a daunting task.
“We knew the Cleveland Museum of Art would never show it,’ says Stern. “Sherman Lee (the museum’s director) was pretty conservative and this work was too unconventional and controversial.”
It didn’t help that some well-known art critics had called it kitsch. Others were offended by some of the plates, sculpted to resemble female genitalia. Still others belittled the work, drawing a distinction between art and crafts.
“Plates and embroidery n that was ‘women’s work!’’’ says Stern, mocking the naysayers.
Eventually, the site committee visited The Civic (formerly Heights Temple), and a dozen members of an ad hoc committee pledged $125,000 of their own money to make the deposit on the rent.
This was hardly the end of their efforts. The Ohio Chicago Art Project soon discovered it would take an additional $80,000 to renovate the shabby social hall and provide security for the artwork. To raise funds, the group sold sponsorships of the plates and table runners; they tapped into in-kind donations of labor and material.
“We had to become a little museum,” says Levine. “We needed to hire staff, do publicity and train docents. We even created a gift shop and a coffee shop.”
In 1980, “The Dinner Party” opened at The Civic with the help of two employees and 400 volunteers coordinated by Tishkoff. Hugely popular, it drew 30,000 visitors over its three-month run. During the last three weeks, Stern recalls, people were lined up out the door.
“It brought together a such a diverse audience,” says Levine. “It attracted feminists, gays and lesbians, stitch ...”
When the exhibit closed, the Ohio Chicago Art Project cleared $70,000. They used $40,000 to create The Women’s Community Foundation of Cuyahoga County, a grant-making organization dedicated to supporting various women-related community programs. They donated the remainder to various other women’s nonprofits.
Over the next two decades, “The Dinner Party” toured periodically, but mostly it languished. A nonprofit organization, Through the Flower, became the conservator of the work and built a museum-quality storage building in New Mexico to house it. Stern and Levine served on Through the Flower’s board of trustees for years.
In 2002, the Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation acquired “The Dinner Party,” donated it to the Brooklyn Museum, and provided the funds to build a wing to house it and showcase other feminist art. Levine, Stern and Tishkoff, accompanied by Tishkoff’s two college-age granddaughters, attended last month’s opening.
Levine describes the setting where “The Dinner Party” is installed as “breathtaking,” a unique triangular gallery with gray glass walls. “The walls reflect light, and the whole room just glows! The piece has such power, a hush falls when people view it.”
Levine toured the Sackler wing with her 21-year-old grandson, who she says has been hearing about “The Dinner Party” since he was 5. He told her, “Now I see why you were so involved all these years.”
Tishkoff’s granddaughter Sarah McGarrity, 20, feels, “‘The Dinner Party’ might not speak to women of my generation,” since the younger generation was “highly under- represented.”
Stern, attending with her husband Albert, says, “Finding a permanent home for “The Dinner Party” was a dream come true, the culmination of years of hard work. When I first saw the piece, it changed my life, and I wanted every woman in the world to see it. Now more women will have this opportunity.”
skahn@cjn.org
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