The dinner party

Judy Chicago, 1939-

Art work

The Dinner Party is a complex work of art celebrating the accomplishments of women throughout history. It consists of thirty-nine place settings set up on an open triangular table 46 1/2 feet on each side. The table rests on a porcelain tile floor upon which is written the names of 999 women of achievement in western civilization. Each place setting includes a china-painted plate, which represents a period in Western civilization as well as the mythological figure or woman who best exemplifies that period; a set of lustered ceramic flatware; a lustered and gold ceramic chalice; a napkin with an embroidered gold edge. These rest upon an embroidered runner, which drops over the front and the back of the table and incorporates the needlework s...tyle and the time each woman lived. The name of the woman represented, embellished with an illuminated capital letter, is embroidered on the front of the runner. more