Judy Chicago Finally Gets Her Flowers. It Only Took 60 Years

Isiah Magsino
·2 min read
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What makes for a good dinner party? It isn’t flowers or tablescapes, or even food. Seasoned hosts know that a party is a success when those who weren’t invited talk about it—whether out of admiration or envy. Nobody knows this better than Judy Chicago, the artist who forged The Dinner Party, an anatomically inspired installation featuring 39 place settings laid out on a triangular table for historical (and some mythical) women, from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Georgia O’Keeffe. Following the debut of the piece at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1979, the art world was swift to label Chicago a feminist and political firebrand. “People only considered it political because it challenged the prevailing para­digm,” Chicago says now. And she’s been challenging it ever since.

In the ensuing decades Chicago has repeatedly reset the table by changing her methods. Through paintings, drawings, sculpture, and even works composed of colored smoke, she has made her way from artistic outsider to celebrated legend. For its spring/summer 2020 couture show, Dior enlisted Chicago to design a set, which the artist calls “one of the greatest creative collaborations of my life.” She also designed a psychedelic limited edition Lady Dior bag. Last year she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

judy chicago
In 2020, Chicago (below) created a series of banners for Dior’s spring/summer couture show that asked, “What if women ruled the world?”Courtesy of Judy Chicago

This month, Chicago will be the subject of “Judy Chicago: Herstory,” a survey of her work at the New Museum in New York that includes screen prints, performance art, and more, only the second comprehensive exhibition in her 60-year career.

judy chicago
Works by Judy Chicago, including Car Hood (1964), will be exhibited at NYC’s New Museum, when “Judy Chicago: Herstory” opens October 12. Courtesy of Judy Chicago

It’s another sign that, at 84, the artist is finally finding the world catching up with her. For Chicago the fanfare comes better late than never. “I feel fortunate. I was able to spend 50 uninterrupted years in my studio, which meant I could focus on meaning rather than money,” she says. “Until very recently I’ve never had powerful dealers or collectors behind me. Just the power of my art.”

This story appears in the October 2023 issue of Town & Country.

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