The Dinner Party
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About this Brooklyn Icon
The Brooklyn Museum is commemorating its 200th anniversary by spotlighting 200 standout objects in its encyclopedic collection.
Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party (1974–79) is an icon of 1970s American feminist art, one of the most important artworks of the 20th century, and a visitor favorite. The large-scale installation celebrates the lives and achievements of historical and mythical women across Western civilization in the form of a lavish banquet table set for 39. The names of 999 more women stream out on the Heritage Floor. Conceptually daring and visually dazzling, Chicago’s landmark artwork challenges centuries of patriarchal erasure of women’s history. This feat is executed in brilliant detail across the painted and shaped ceramic plates and richly embellished needlework runners, materials specifically chosen for their resonance with so-called women’s work.
Once derided as “3-D ceramic pornography” by a U.S. congressman, The Dinner Party’s symbolic layers reward close looking. They focus on the “central core” (or vulvar) imagery in an unprecedented embrace of body-based abstract art that was highly controversial in the years following its debut. Despite the critics, The Dinner Party was always beloved, attracting droves of visitors eager to see women’s history fully celebrated. The gift of this work to the Brooklyn Museum created the Center for Feminist Art, where the installation is on permanent display and surrounded by rotating galleries of feminist art.
Place Settings
The principal component of The Dinner Party is a massive ceremonial banquet arranged in the shape of an open triangle—a symbol of equality—measuring forty-eight feet on each side with a total of thirty-nine place settings. The “guests of honor” commemorated on the table are designated by means of intricately embroidered runners, each executed in a historically specific manner. Upon these are placed, for each setting, a gold ceramic chalice and utensils, a napkin with an embroidered edge, and a fourteen-inch china-painted plate with a central motif based on butterfly and vulvar forms. Each place setting is rendered in a style appropriate to the individual woman being honored.
Wing One of the table begins in prehistory with the Primordial Goddess and continues chronologically with the development of Judaism; it then moves to early Greek societies to the Roman Empire, marking the decline in women’s power, signified by Hypatia’s place setting. Wing Two represents early Christianity through the Reformation, depicting women who signify early expressions of the fight for equal rights, from Marcella to Anna van Schurman. Wing Three begins with Anne Hutchinson and addresses the American Revolution, Suffragism, and the movement toward women’s increased individual creative expression, symbolized at last by Georgia O’Keeffe.
Learn more about components of The Dinner Party.
Caption
Judy Chicago American, born 1939. The Dinner Party, 1974–1979. Ceramic, porcelain, textile; triangular table, 576 x 576 in. (1463 x 1463 cm) each side: 48 ft. (1463.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of The Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation, 2002.10. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Photo by Donald Woodman, 2002.10_DWoodman_2018_DSC01906.jpg)
Tags
Artist
Title
The Dinner Party
Date
1974–1979
Geography
Place made: United States
Medium
Ceramic, porcelain, textile; triangular table
Classification
Dimensions
576 x 576 in. (1463 x 1463 cm) each side: 48 ft. (1463.4 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of The Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation
Accession Number
2002.10
Rights
© artist or artist's estate
The Brooklyn Museum holds a non-exclusive license to reproduce images of this work of art from the rights holder named here. The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org. If you wish to contact the rights holder for this work, please email copyright@brooklynmuseum.org and we will assist if we can.
Frequent Art Questions
Was "The Dinner Party" intended for this exact room?
No, this room was actually built for The Dinner Party. Elizabeth Sackler purchased it for the Brooklyn Museum under the provision that we would build a feminist art gallery for it. The Museum and Judy Chicago worked with designers to ensure that the piece would be able to stay on view long-term with minimal wear. Many considerations have gone into the installation to protect the work, such as the low lighting and the mirrored walls that help to reflect and maximize it.That's interesting. Has it ever been moved?Since its installation, no. But when Judy Chicago first created the work it travelled the world for 9 years, visiting 16 venues in 6 countries on 3 continents, reaching a viewing audience of 15 million. Thankfully it has found its permanent home here and can finally rest a bit.At "The Dinner Party," where does the text on the entry banners come from?
The words come from the artist herself, Judy Chicago. The text speaks of Chicago’s hope for a more equal world, one in which women’s history and perspectives are fully recognized and integrated into all aspects of human civilization. The banners were woven at the San Francisco Tapestry Workshop and they echo some of the visual motifs of the larger overall installation.Are these place settings presented in chronological order?
Yes! It begins at the corner with the ancient goddesses and runs chronologically to the 20th century. Chicago describes the breakdown of each of the three wings like this: First, prehistory and ancient goddess worship through Classical Rome ending in the early days of Christianity. Next, the rise of widespread Christianity and the last days of Rome through to the Reformation. Last, the Enlightenment into the twentieth century with an emphasis on the early seeds of the feminist movement. The increase in dimensionality of the plates is a reference to women’s visibility and level of participation in society over time.
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