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The Dinner Party

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For the play written by Neil Simon in 2000, see "The Dinner Party (play)"
For the Seinfeld episode, see "The Dinner Party (Seinfeld episode)"
Cover of Judy Chicago’s 1996 book describing the work

The Dinner Party is a work by feminist artist Judy Chicago depicting place settings for 39 mythical and historical famous women throughout history. It was produced from 1974 to 1979 by a collaboration of many individual women and first exhibited in 1979.

Judy Chicago stated the purpose of the work as "The Dinner Party was meant to end the ongoing cycle of omission in which women were written out of the historical record."

The table is triangular and measures forty-eight feet on each side. Each place setting features a placemat / tablecloth with the woman's name and artworks relating to the woman's life, along with a napkin, utensils, glass / goblet, and a plate. The plates all feature a butterfly- or flower-like sculpture, representing the woman's vulva. "The Dinner Party elevates female achievement in Western history to a heroic scale traditionally reserved for men.

A collaborative effort of many female artists, The Dinner Party celebrates traditional female accomplishments such as weaving, china painting, embroidery, and sewing which have historically been framed as craft or domestic art.

The white floor of triangular porcelain tiles is inscribed with the names of 999 other notable women.

Since 2002 the home of the work has been the Brooklyn Museum of Art. It was gifted to the museum by The Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation. It is now permanently housed at the Brooklyn Museum within the Elizabeth A Sackler Center for Feminist Art which opened in March 2007.

Women represented in the work in the place settings

The first wing of the triangular table has place settings for women from Primordial Goddesses of prehistory through to Hypatia of classical Rome. This section symbolises the emergence and decline of the Classical world.

The second wing begins with Marcella, and denotes the rise of Christianity. It concludes with Anna van Schurman in the seventeenth century.

The third wing represents the Age of revolutions. It begins with Anne Hutchinson and moves through the twentieth century to the final places paying tribute to Virginia Woolf and Georgia O'Keeffe,

The 39 women with places at the table are:-

Wing I: From Prehistory to the Roman Empire
1. Primordial Goddess
2. Fertile Goddess
3. Ishtar
4. Kali
5. Snake Goddess
6. Sophia
7. Amazon
8. Hatshepsut
9. Judith
10. Sappho
11. Aspasia
12. Boudica
13. Hypatia

Wing II: From the Beginnings of Christianity to the Reformation
14. Marcella
15. Saint Bridget
16. Theodora of Byzantium
17. Hrosvitha
18. Trotula of Salerno
19. Eleanor of Aquitaine
20. Hildegard of Bingen
21. Petronilla de Meath
22. Christine de Pisan
23. Isabella d'Este
24. Elizabeth R
25. Artemisia Gentileschi
26. Anna van Schurman

Wing III: From the American to the Women’s Revolution
27. Anne Hutchinson
28. Sacajawea
29. Caroline Herschel
30. Mary Wollstonecraft
31. Sojourner Truth
32. Susan B. Anthony
33. Elizabeth Blackwell
34. Emily Dickinson
35. Ethel Smyth
36. Margaret Sanger
37. Natalie Barney
38. Virginia Woolf
39. Georgia O'Keeffe

Women represented in the work in the Heritage floor

The names of 999 more Women of Achievement are represented in the floor tiles.

Abella of Salerno , Abigail Adams , Abigail, Adela of Blois , Adela Zambudia-Ribero , Adelaide Labille-Guiard , Adelaide of Susa , Adelaide , Adelberger , Adelheip Popp , Aemilia , Aethelburg , Aethelflaed , Agatha , Ageltrude Benevento , Aglaonice , Agnes (Hildegarde of Bingen group) , Agnes of Poitou , Agnes Smedley , Agnes Waterhouse , Agnodice , Aisha , Ajysyt , Albertine Necker de Saussure , Aleksandra Kollantay , Alessandra Giliani , Aletta Jacobs , Alexandra of Jerusalem , Alexandra van Grippenberg , Alfonsina Storni , Alice Paul , Alice Pike Barney , Alice Samuel , Alice Stone Blackwell , Aliénor de Poitiers , Alison Rutherford , Almucs De Castenau , Aloara , Althea Gibson , Alukah , Amat-Mamu , Amelia Earhart , Amelia Villa , Amy Beach , Amyte , Ana Betancourt , Anaconda , Anahita , Anaïs Nin , Anasandra , Anastasia (Christine de Pisan group) , Anastasia (Marcella group) , Anath , Andres Villareal , Angela Merici , Angelberga , Angéle de la Barthe , Angelica Balbanoff , Angelica Kauffman , Angelina Grimke , Angelique de Coudray , Ann Lee , Anna Comnena , Anna Dalassena Comnena , Anna Karsch , Anna Manzolini , Anna Pavlova , Anna Schabanoff , Anna Sophia , Anna , Anne Askew , Anne Bacon , Anne Baynard , Anne Bonney , Anne Bradstreet , Anne Clough , Anne Dacier , Anne Ella Carroll , Anne Halkett , Anne of Beaujeu , Anne of Beaujeu , Anne of Brittany , Anne Redfearne , Annie Jump Cannon , Annie Kenney , Annie Smith Peck , Annie Wood Besant , Antigone , Antiope , Antonia Bembo , Antonia Brico , Aphra Behn , Aphrodite , Arachne , Aretaphilia of Cyrene , Arete of Cyrene , Ariadne , Arianhrod , Arinitti , Aristoclea , Arsinoe II , Artemis , Artemisia I , Artemisia II , Aruru , Asherah , Ashtoreth , Aspasia of Athens , Astarte , Atalanta , Athaliah , Athanarsa , Athene , Atira , Augusta Fickert , Augusta Savage , Augusta Schmidt , Augustina Saragossa , Awashonks , Axiothea , Baba Petkova , Babe Didrikson , Balthilde , Baptista Malatesta , Baranamtarra , Barbara Bodichon , Barbara Hepworth , Barbara Strozzi , Barbara , Barbe De Verrue , Baroness de Beausaleil , Baroness of Adlersparre , Basilea , Basine , Bathsua Makin , Baudonivia , Beatrice de Die , Beatrice Webb , Beatrice Webb , Beatrix Galindo , Begga , Bel-Shalti-Narrar , Belva Lockwood , Berenguela , Bernarda de la Cerda , Bertha Lutz , Bertha of England , Bertha of Sulzbach , Bertha von Suttner , Bertha , Berthe Morisot , Berthildis , Bertille , Beruriah , Bessie Smith , Betsy Kjelsberg , Bettina von Arnim , Bettisia Gozzadini , Birgitta , Blanche of Castile , Blandina , Blodeuwedd , Bona Dea , Bourgot , Bridget Bevan , Brigh Brigaid , Brigid , Britomartis , Brunhilde , Brynhild , Buto , Cambra , Camilla , Candelaria Figueredo , Capillana , Carcas , Cardea , Carlota Matienzo , Carlotta Ferrari , Carmenta , Caroline Schlegel , Carrie Chapman Catt , Cartismandua , Cassandra Fidelis , Cassandra , Caterina Van Hemessen , Catherine Adorni , Catherine de Rambouillet , Catherine Deshayes , Catherine Fisher , Catherine Greene , Catherine II , Catherine of Aragon , Catherine of Siena , Catherine Pavlovna , Catherine , Celia Fiennes , Cerridwen , Charitas Pirckheimer , Charlotte Brontë , Charlotte Corday , Charlotte Guest , Charlotte Perkins Gilman , Chicomecoatl , Chiomara , Christabel Pankhurst , Christina of Sweden , Christina Rossetti , Circe , Clara Schumann , Clara Zetkin , Clare of Assisi , Claricia , Claudine de Tencin , Clemence Royer , Cleobuline , Cleopatra , Clodia , Clotilda , Clytemnestra , Coatlicue , Cobhlair Mor , Colette , Constance Lytton , Constantia , Cordelia Gracchi , Corinna of Tanagro , Cresilla , Cristina Trivulzio , Cunegund , Cybele , Cynane , Cynisca , Damelis , Damo , Danu , Daphne , Deborah Sampson , Deborah , Demeter , Dervorguilla , Dhuoda , Dido , Diemud , Diotima , Djuna Barnes , Dolores Ibarruri , Dorcas , Doris Lessing , Dorotea Bucca , Dorothea Dix , Dorothea Lange , Dorothea Leporin-Erxleben , Dorothea von Rodde , Dorothy Richardson , Dorothy Wordsworth , Douceline , Eachtach , Eadburga , Eanswith , Ebba , Edith Cavell , Edith Evans , Edith Sitwell , Edith Wharton , Edith , Edmonia Lewis , Edna St. Vincent Millay , Egee , Ehyophsta , Eileen Gray , Eleanor Butler , Eleanor Duse , Elfrida Andrée , Elin Kallio , Eliska Krasnohorska , Eliza Lucas Pinckney , Elizabeth Anderson , Elizabeth Barrett Browning , Elizabeth Bekker , Elizabeth Carter , Elizabeth Cheron , Elizabeth Danviers , Elizabeth de la Guerre , Elizabeth Druzbacka , Elizabeth Farren , Elizabeth Fry , Elizabeth Gurley Flynn , Elizabeth Hamilton , Elizabeth Hoby , Elizabeth Lucar , Elizabeth Montagu , Elizabeth of Schonau , Elizabeth Petrovna , Elizabeth Southern , Elizabeth Talbot , Elizabeth Vesey , Elizabeth Vigeé-Lebrun , Elizabeth , Elizabetta Gonzaga , Elizabette Sirani , Ellen Richards , Elpinice , Emilia Pardo-Bazán , Emilie du Chatelet , Emilie Snethlage , Emily Brontë , Emily Carr , Emily Carr , Emily Faithful , Emma Goldman , Emma Paterson , Emmeline Pankhurst , Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence , Encheduanna , Ende , Engleberga , Epicharis , Ereshkigal , Erinna , Esther , Ethelberga , Etheldreda , Ethylwyn , Eudocia , Eudoxia , Eugenia , Europa , Eurpyle , Euryleon , Eurynome , Eustochium , Eve , Fabiola , Failge , Fanny Burney , Faustina Bordoni , Fede Galizia , Federica Montseny , Fibors , Florence Nightingale , Fortuna , Frances Brooke , Frances Harper , Frances Perkins , Frances Power Cobbe , Frances Wright , Francesca Caccini , Francesca of Salerno , Francoise de Maintenon , Frau Cramer , Fredegund , Frederika Bremer , Freya , Frida Kahlo , Frija , Gabriela Mistral , Gabriele Münter , Gabrielle Petit , Gaea , Gaspara Stampa , Gebjon , Genevieve D'Arconville , Genevieve , George Eliot , George Sand , Germaine de Staël , Gertrude Kasebier , Gertrude of Nivelles , Gertrude Stein , Gertrude Svensen , Gisela , Glueckel von Hameln , Golda Meir , Gormlaith , Grace O'Malley , Gracia Mendesa , Guda , Guillemine , Gunda Beeg , Hannah Adams , Hannah Arendt , Hannah Crocker , Hannah Hoch , Hannah More , Hannah Senesh , Hannah Woolley , Hannahanna , Hardlind , Harriet Beecher Stowe , Harriet Hosmer , Harriet Martineau , Harriet Tubman , Hashop , Hasta Hansteen , Hathor , Hawisa , Hecate , Hecuba , Hedwig Nordenflycht , Hedwig , Hel , Helen Blavatsky , Helen Cornaro , Helen Diner , Helen Keller , Helena , Helene Kottauer , Heloise , Henrietta Johnston , Henrietta Szold , Hera , Hermine Veres , Herrad of Lansberg , Hersend , Hersilia , Hester Stanhope , Hestiaea , Hiera , Hipparchia , Hippo , Hippolyte , Honorata Rodiana , Hortense Lepaut , Hortensia von Moos , Hortensia , Huldah , Hygeburg , Ida B. Wells , Ida Kaminska , Ida Pfieffer , Ilmatar , Iltani , Inanna , Inesse Armand , Ingrida , Irene Joliot-Curie , Irene , Irkalla , Isabel de Guevara , Isabel of France , Isabel Pinochet , Isabela Czartoryska , Isabella Andreini , Isabella Bishop , Isabella de Joya Roseres , Isabella Losa , Isadora Duncan , Isak Dinesen , Isis , Isotta Nogarola , Jacobe Felicie , Jadwiga , Jane Austen , Jane Harrison , Jane of Sutherland , Jane Weston , Jeanne Campan , Jeanne D'Albret , Jeanne de Montfort , Jeanne de Pompodour , Jeanne Dumeè , Jeanne Louis Farrenc , Jeanne Mance , Jeanne Manon Roland , Jeanne Marie Guyon , Jeanne of Navarre , Jeanne Recamier , Jeannette Rankin , Jezebel , Joan of Arc , Joanna Koerton , Joanna , Joanne Baillie , Josefa Amar , Josefa de Dominguez , Josephine Baker , Josephine Kablick , Juana de la Cruz , Judith Leyster , Judith Murray , Julia Cameron , Julia Domna , Julia Maesa , Julia Mamaea , Julia Morgan , Julie de Lespinasse , Juno , Justine Dietrich , Jutta , Kaahumanu , Kallirhoe Parren , Karen Horney , Karoline Pichler , Kate Campbell Hurd-Mead , Katharine Hepburn , Kathe Kollwitz , Kathe Schirmacher , Katherine Bethlen , Katherine Sheppard , Katti Moeler , Khuwyt , Kora , Kore , Kubaba , La Malinche , Lady Beatrix , Lady Uallach , Lalla , Lamia , Lampedo , Las Huelgas , Laura Ammanati , Laura Bassi , Laura Cereta , Laura Torres , Lavinia Fontana , Laya , Leah , Leela of Granada , Leonor D'Almeida , Leonora Baroni , Leontium , Leoparda , Levina Teerling , Liadain , Libana , Lili Boulanger , Lilith , Lilliard , Lioba , Lioba , Loretta , Lorraine Hansberry , Lou Andreas Salomé , Louise Labé , Louise le Gras , Louise Michel , Louise Nevelson , Louyse Bourgeois , Lucretia Marinelli , Lucretia , Lucrezia Tournabuoni , Lucy , Luisa de Carvajal , Luisa Roldain , Luise Gottsched , Luise Otto-Peter , Luiza Todi , Lydia , Lysistrata , Maacah , Mabel , Macha of the Red Tresses , Macha , Macrina , Madame A. Milliat , Maddalena Buonsignori , Madderakka , Madeleine de Sable , Madeleine de Scudéry , Magda Portal , Mahaut of Artois , Makeda , Manto , Marcellina , Margaret (Eleanor of Aquitaine group) , Margaret Beaufort , Margaret Brent , Margaret Cavendish , Margaret Fell Fox , Margaret Fuller , Margaret Mead , Margaret Murray Washington , Margaret Murray , Margaret O'Connor , Margaret of Austria , Margaret of Desmond , Margaret of Navarre , Margaret of Scandinavia , Margaret Paston , Margaret Philipse , Margaret Roper , Margarete Forchhammer , Margarethe Dessoff , Margery Jourdemain , Marguerite Gerard , Marguerite of Bourgogne , Marguerite-Antoinette Couperin , Marguerite-Louise Couperin , Maria Agnesi , Maria Alphaizuli , Maria Antonia Walpurgis , Maria Bartola , Maria Cunitz , Maria de Abarca , Maria de Agreda , Maria de Coste Blanche , Maria de Ventadorn , Maria del Refugio Garcia , Maria Edgeworth , Maria Kirch , Maria Luisa Sanchez , Maria Mitchell , Maria Montessori , Maria Montoya Martinez , Maria Sibylla Merian , Maria Stewart , Maria Theresa , Maria Theresia von Paradis , Maria-Christine de Lalaing , Marian Anderson , Marianna Alcoforado , Marianne Beth , Marie Bashkirtsev , Marie Bovin , Marie Champmeslé , Marie Colinet , Marie Curie , Marie de France , Marie de Lafayette , Marie de l'Incarnation , Marie de Medici , Marie de Miramion , Marie de Sévigné , Marie du Deffand , Marie Duges , Marie Durocher , Marie Geoffrin , Marie Heim-Vögtlin , Marie Iowa , Marie la Chapelle , Marie Laurencin , Marie le Jars de Gournay , Marie of Champagne , Marie Popelin , Marie Sallé , Marie Stopes , Marie Stopes , Marie Tussaud , Marie Venier , Martesia , Martha Baretskaya , Martha Graham , Martha Mears , Martha of Bethany , Martia Proba , Mary "Mother" Jones , Mary Alexander , Mary Ann Shad Cary , Mary Astell , Mary Baker Eddy , Mary Bonaventure , Mary Cassatt , Mary Church Terrell , Mary Dyer , Mary Esther Karding , Mary Goddard , Mary Hays , Mary Lamb , Mary Lavoisier , Mary Lee , Mary Livermore , Mary Lou Williams , Mary Louise McLaughlin , Mary Manley , Mary McLeod Bethune , Mary Monckton , Mary Mueller , Mary of Bethany , Mary of Hungary , Mary Radcliffe , Mary Read , Mary Shelley , Mary Sidney , Mary Somerville , Mary Wortley Montague , Maryann , Mata Hari , Mathilda , Mathilde of Tuscany , Matilda of Flanders , Matilda , Maude , Maximilla , Maya Deren , Meave , Mechthild of Hackeborn , Medusa , Megalostrata , Melisande , Mentuhetop , Mercy Otis Warren , Metrodora , Milla Granson , Millicent Fawcett , Minna Canth , Minna Cauer , Miranda Stuart , Miriam , Modesta Pozzo , Moero of Byzantium , Molly Pitcher , Morrigan , Mother Hutton , Mrs. Cellier , Muirgel , Myrine , Myrtis of Anthedon , Nadezhda Krupskaya , Nadia Boulanger , Nammu , Nancy Ward , Nanno , Naomi , Naqi'a , Natalia Goncharova , Nathalie Zand , Nefertiti , Neith , Nell Gwyn , Nelly Sachs , Neobule , Nephthys , Nerthus , Nicaula , Nicobule , Ninhursaga , Ninon de L'Enclos , Ninti , Nitocris , Nofret , Nossis , Novella D'Andrea , Nut , Octavia , Odilla , Ojelia Uribe de Acosta , Olga , Oliva Sabuco , Olive Schreiner , Olympe de Gouges , Olympia Morata , Olympia , Olympias , Omeciuatl , Orinthya , Pamphile , Pandora , Pasiphae , Paula Modersohn-Becker , Paula , Penelope Barker , Penette de Guillet , Penthelia , Penthesilia , Perictyone , Phantasia , Phile , Philippa of Hainault , Phillipe Auguste , Phillis Wheatley , Philotis , Phoebe , Pierrone , Plotina , Pocahontas , Porcia , Praxagora , Praxilla , Priscilla , Properzia de Rossi , Prudence Crandall , Puduchepa , Pulcheria , Pythia , Python , Rachel (Trotula group) , Rachel Katznelson , Rachel Ruysch , Rachel Varnhagen , Radclyffe Hall , Radegund , Rahonem , Rebecca Lee , Rebecca West , Rebekah , Reinhild , Renee Vivien , Renier Michiel , Rhea , Rhiannon , Romaine Brooks , Rosa Bonheur , Rosa Chouteau , Rosa Luxemburg , Rosalba Carriera , Rosalia of Palermo , Rose de Burford , Rose Mooney , Ruth Benedict , Ruth , Saaredra Villanueva , Sabina Von Steinbach , Salomée Halpir , Salpe , Sarah Bernhardt , Sarah Grimke , Sarah Jennings , Sarah of St. Gilles , Sarah Peale , Sarah Ponsonby , Sarah Siddons , Sarah , Scholastica , Selin Hastings , Selma Lagerlof , Semiramis , Shalom , Shibtu , Shub-Ad of Ur , Sigrid Undset , Simone de Beauvoir , Simone Weil , Siva , Sobeya , Sofia Kovalevskaya , Sofia Perovskaya , Sonia Delaunay , Sonja Henie , Sophia Heath , Sophia of Mechlenberg , Sophie Blanchard , Sophie de Condorcet , Sophie Germain , Sophie Taeuber-Arp , Sophonisba Anguisciola , Stephanie de Genlis , Stephanie De Montaneis , Sulpicia , Susan la Flesche Piccotte , Susanna Lorantffy , Susanna Rowson , Susanna Wesley , Suzanne Langer , Suzanne Necker , Suzanne Valadon , Sylvia Pankhurst , Sylvia , Tanaquil , Tanith , Tarquinia Molza , Tefnut , Telesilla , Teresa de Cartagena , Teresa Villareal , Tetisheri , Thalestris , The Norns , The Valkyries , Theano , Thecla , Theoclea , Theodelinda , Theodora II , Theodora III , Theodora the Senatrix , Theresa of Avila , Théroigne de Mericourt , Thoma , Tiamat , Timarete , Tituba , Tiy , Tomyris , Tuchulcha , Tullia D'Aragona , Urraca , Ursley Kempe , Valada , Vashti , Veleda , Vera Figner , Vera Zasulich , Veronica Gambara , Vesta , Victoria Woodhull , Violante , Virgin Mary , Virginia , Vita Sackville West , Vittoria Colonna , Walpurgis , Wanda Landowska , Wanda , Wetamoo , Willa Cather , Xochitl , Yekaterina Breshkovskaya , Yekaterina Dashkova , Yvette , Zenobia , Zipporah , Zoé , Zora Neale Hurston .

Reference

  • Chicago, Judy, The Dinner Party, Penguin, Rev Ed edition (March 1, 1996) ISBN 0-14-024437-9