Permanent home for The Dinner Party - Artworld - Brief Article

Art in America, June, 2002

The Brooklyn Museum of Art recently announced that it had received a gift of The Dinner Party, a spectacular and controversial installation piece by Judy Chicago. Presented to the museum by the Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation, the gift is valued at around $2 million. A feminist icon created over the course of more than five years, beginning in 1974, the work features a large, triangular table set with 39 handmade plates of painted and glazed porcelain.

Each commemorates an important woman in world history. The plates are adorned with decorative images such as flowers and butterflies, along with semi-abstracted female genitalia; the latter provoked widespread debate when the work debuted at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1979. Since then, the installation has toured the country, sparking both enthusiasm and controversy wherever it appeared. The Dinner Party will be on temporary view at the museum from Sept. 20, 2002, to Feb. 9, 2003. In 2004, it will be permanently installed.