The party reconvenes

Thursday, April 25, 1996

In 1979, Judy Chicago’s ‘The Dinner Party’ explored sexual
politics with feminist art.

Now, a new exhibit at the Armand Hammer Museum revisits the
influential collection and examines the art spawned by the feminist
movement over the past 30 years.By Rodney Tanaka

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Welcome to the party.

"Sexual Politics: Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party in Feminist Art
History," the new exhibit at the Armand Hammer Museum, examines the
pivotal 1979 work as well as a sampling of prominent pieces from
the 1960s to the present.

"The Dinner Party" honors 1038 women in history with a table set
for 39 women and floor tiles bearing the names of others. The place
settings consist of plates that incorporate images of female
genitalia and hand-crafted runners that narrate important aspects
of the woman’s life and legend. The project took five years and
included more than 400 collaborators.

"I was very interested to look at the debates generated by ‘The
Dinner Party,’" says curator Amelia Jones, "and look at other
feminist work and think about the complexity of the context in
which it came."

One criticism leveled at the work centers on its use of the
"decorative" arts. Chicago incorporated needlework in the creation
of the placemats, a popular technique in feminist art according to
Jones.

"They’ve used it specifically to break down the boundaries that
has initially kept women out of the fine arts arena," Jones says.
"It was a very specific strategy and I take those kinds of
criticisms as a sign that ‘The Dinner Party’ was successful in
breaking down those boundaries."

The companion section to "The Dinner Party" collects almost 100
pieces by 54 artists that contributed to the feminist art movement
during the last thirty years. Each subheading addresses common
concerns of feminist artists, including female imagery, bodily
functions and intimacy. The section dealing with domesticity
employs similar techniques used by Chicago and her collaborators.
Three embroideries by Didi Dunphy take inspiration from abstract
artists such as Frank Stella.

"They are taking the realm of high art and critiquing them
through a domestic activity that is embroidery," Dunphy says.
"They’re miniature so they no longer are oppressive in scale. I’m
cutting the male ego down to size."

Dunphy viewed "The Dinner Party" for the first time during the
construction of this exhibit.

"The work in ‘The Dinner Party’ resonates in what I do now, and
that is a belief in the female activity of stitchery and the beauty
of that, and how this activity can lead to female emancipation,"
Dunphy says. "I found it incredibly alluring and sexy, and those
are all qualities that I hope my work has."

"It’s luscious in its material: silk threads, embroidery, china
painting," Dunphy adds. "Also, it’s a seductive piece because it
celebrates women’s achievements, and that is appealing to me."

The appeal of "The Dinner Party" to artist Millie Wilson stems
from the minimalist in her. Wilson initially viewed the work in
1980, one year after its completion.

"I was amazed at what a sheer technical feat it was," Wilson
says. "The floor is a piece all by itself."

The entire work influenced Wilson’s art, at least on a
subconscious level, as did many other feminist artists.

"There’s always something going on in my mind, not just her
work, but a lot of the work that was focused around women’s
bodies," Wilson says. "It cuts both ways. Some want to celebrate
sexuality, but the other side of that is it’s been used to limit
what women can do."

Wilson’s "Wig/Cunt," located in the section dealing with female
imagery, juxtaposes found images from two sources: diagrams of
female genitalia used by 1940s physicians to explain homosexuality,
and diagrams of wigs.

"You realize the two images look alike and it was funny," Wilson
says. "I provide a pretty subtle tool to rethink things."

Judith Bernstein’s "Five Panel Vertical" tools with phallic
imagery by mixing it with pictures of screws. Her interest in
phallic symbols stems in part from her exploration of bathroom
graphitti.

"I read in the New York Times that ‘Stop the World I Want to Get
Off’ and ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ come from graffitti,"
Bernstein says. "I went into the men’s room at Yale and I started
using that material."

She incorporated phallic imagery in works such as "Fun Gun" and
"Union Jack-Off" ­ pieces that critique U.S. involvement in
the Vietnam War. Bernstein views her work as a counterpoint to the
Dinner Party.

"’The Dinner Party’ is very vaginal while my work is black and
white and aggressive," Bernstein says. "You don’t have to restrict
images to your own body."

The different works in the exhibit allow new interpretations of
the meaning of feminist art.

"I’d love to see people open up to the idea of feminism again
because it’s become a contested term," Jones says. "I know a lot of
women younger than myself have rejected it because they associate
it with certain rigid notions of feminism."

"Feminist art is art that is aware of the issues of gender
oppression in this culture and tries to explore the ways in which
women have been constructed and positioned in our culture in a
critical way, but also in a positive way explore women’s potential
for creativity," Jones says. "It’s critical of patriarchy, but not
necessarily of men. A lot of it embraces men and masculinity."

The exhibit offers varying viewpoints by women in a historical
context. The artists involved combine their voices to that of
Chicago and her collaborators.

"I think that museum visitors will have a new opportunity to
view work that is categorized as feminist work and is nothing to be
tossed in the trash," Dunphy says. "It’s really celebrating work by
women in a way that’s legitimate, without pigeonholing or brushing
it away as a casual fad."

ART: "Sexual Politics:Judy Chicago’s ‘Dinner Party’ in Feminist
Art History," at the Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural
Center through Aug. 18. TIX: $4.50, $3, $1 for UCLA students. For
more info, call (310) 443-7000.

PATRICK LAM/Daily Bruin

Artist Judith Bernstein with her piece titled "Five Panel
Vertical."PATRICK LAM/Daily Bruin

Feminist artist Millie Wilson with one part of her two-panel
piece dealing with female imagery, "Wig/Cunt" 1990.