That's super awesome Risker, thanks for sharing (I was born before 1982, but was still too "wee" to know the Dinner Party until my teens!).
the "estrogen-charged" comment is something a lot of people have suggested in their experience of viewing the piece, I bet it was a very empowering experience. The focus of my master's thesis was the long haul acquisition process of the piece - it really went through a lot, and of course is socio and politically charged regarding the representation of mainly Anglo historical and mythical figures in the work and Chicago's accused lack of appreciation for the hundreds of people who volunteered to create the most important feminist artwork of the 20th century.
I haven't heard anyone talk about printed matter and "merchandise," at all, from the original installation. It's a shame it was so expensive - no surprise for the time period - as fine art was still pretty locked down into the "wealthy Anglocentric" community and $80+ litho books were commonplace more than they are now when seeing major exhibitions.
I actually saved my money and when my thesis was accepted and my degree was awarded - and I acquired an original lithograph print from the exhibition signed and numbered by Chicago. Funny, I've been home sick for the past week and I finally took the work out of storage and I'm flattening it for framing.
Strange how this came up this week.
After I turned in my thesis my program said they were surprised my thesis had nothing to do with museums and Wikipedia.
-Sarah
On Fri, Jul 26, 2013 at 8:36 AM, Risker risker.wp@gmail.com wrote:
Oh geez, now I'm feeling positively ancient - I saw it with my mom in 1982, before some of the people on this list were even born. I remember that the printed matter available at the time was exorbitantly priced for someone still paying off college loans and big-city rent, so we never even picked up any 'souvenirs' of our attendance. It's good to see more and more of that documentation being done now in a freely available way.
I do remember, even back then, thinking that the emphasis on genitalia seemed to diminish the broader accomplishments of many of the subjects. The other thing I remember was the sense that we were in an "estrogen-charged" room (in comparison with, perhaps, a football team's "testosterone-charged" room). Sad that it took so long to find a permanent home.
Risker/Anne
On 26 July 2013 10:53, Katherine Casey fluffernutter.wiki@gmail.comwrote:
I saw that exhibit in person a few years ago as part of a Wikimedia NYC meetup - it was amazingly intricate and detailed, and I think I recall a few of us sitting down afterward to see how many of the women had articles, and being rather disappointed. I'm happy to see the Brooklyn Museum working on this!
On Fri, Jul 26, 2013 at 10:48 AM, Sumana Harihareswara < sumanah@wikimedia.org> wrote:
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/community/blogosphere/2013/07/16/writing-women...
Discovered via
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2013-07-24/News_a... which summarizes: "Writing women back into history: A blog post at the Brooklyn Museum highlights Alexandra Thom's goal of chronicling all 1,038 women in Judy Chicago's *Dinner Party* on Wikipedia." You can help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_women_in_the_Heritage_Floor
I've never seen "The Dinner Party" but I mean to someday, partly because of my spouse's description: "Judy Chicago's piece is a monument to dead and mythological heroes, realized in media traditionally associated with women: ceramics, sewing, weaving, embroidery, lace, and (implied) food. It serves as a counterweight to all of history's monuments honoring men." (My spouse wrote a science fiction novel that features "The Dinner Party".) -- Sumana Harihareswara Engineering Community Manager Wikimedia Foundation
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