Judy Chicago Feminist Analysis

The most prevalent and popular stereotype of the post World war II era in America is one filled with women abandoning their wartimes jobs and retreating into the home to fulfill their womanly duties. In Joanne Meyerowitz’s Beyond the Feminine Mystique: A reassessment of Postwar Mass Culture, she shows how far women departed from this one dimensional image. While Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique is reflexive and focused on the mainstream, Meyerowitz’s analysis is a broader and more inclusive exploration of media, as she draws upon multiple sources. Although Friedan effectively unveiled the thought process and reasoning behind society's belief that the message of media was to make women think that their place was to be the happy housewife, Meyerowitz expanded her media archives and found a differing message in analyzing both female responses to media and exploring their stories.

During, the 1960s and 70s American Feminist Movement, women had begun to protest for the same human rights as men. The main areas of protest in The United States of America were Boston, Los Angeles, and New York City. There were many ways to protest, including writing, art, and organizations. There were many writers who wrote about feminism during this time, some include Betty Friedan, Robin Morgan, and Kate Millett. Art also encouraged feminism, specifically the paintings by Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro. There were many feminist groups that protested for equal rights, some of which were The National Black Feminist Organization, The National Organization For Women, Bread and Roses, and The Chicago Women's Liberation Union. In the 1960s and 70s,

Judith Sargent Murray’s On the Equality of the Sexes reveals the struggles women had in the 17th-18th centuries when it came to equal education opportunities. Women were expected to become people of domestication while men had many opportunities to expand their minds and be ambitious, and be leaders. Women were expected to focus on taking care of their family, not to have minds of their own. They wanted change.

In 1971, Linda Nochlin issued her article “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? This idea of aesthetic genius, says Nochlin, is fiction. Art is rarely produced entirely by the artist for the idea of personal expression. Few identifiers in contemporary art have been as fraught as the term feminist art. What does it mean, who defines it, and how does it relate to past accomplishments of the feminist movement?

Looking at Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party a mixed media installation created in 1979, a positive feeling comes about me. I chose this piece it speaks volumes about women in our history. This comes from the names that are written all over the floor and also the arts and crafts that are present on table settings. More so, it was visually pleasing with the bright, warm colors that each setting had, all difference from one another. This feminist piece is a staple for the feminism community in general and within the arts itself. Chicago successfully used this feminist piece to recognize achievements made by influential women through her vaginal imagery and formal dining setting.

Judith Sargent Murray was a revolutionary woman- born into a socially prominent and wealthy family during the start of the American Revolution, Murray was recognized for her intellect at a young age and given an education along with her brother. Later in life, she had her written works widely published and read during a time when women’s voices were seen as fundamentally inferior to those of men. In one of her most influential and strongly opinionated works, ‘On the Equality of the Sexes’, Murray makes a strong case for the spiritual and intellectual equality of men and women, arguing that women and men are born equal, but that men are simply given more education and

The artist’s message to reflect on women's lives, bring attention to women's roles as artists, and rectify the conditions under which contemporary artistic creation was fashioned and received. Clearly brings light to Female equality. Feminist artist Judy Chicago the Dinner Party comprises

Modernity and the Spaces of Femininity was written by Griselda Pollock in 1988, and later published in The Expanding Disclosure in 1992. Griselda Pollock is an art historian, and writes this article for fellow art historians. This is an article written to show the different approaches to femininity in the late 19th century, mainly dealing with the field of art. This article shows how during this time period there were women artists, but due to the gendered ruled ideas attached to art history, these women are largely ignored by art historians. Pollock thought that these women artists are primarily overlooked due to the fact that they are judged by the same standards that are affixed to the work of their male counterparts. But she argues

“Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” was written with a passion both intense and familiar. Reading Nochlin’s words, I found myself thinking, several times, “I’d always wondered the same thing,” or “I feel the same way.” I even formulated some of my own thoughts on the subject, responding to the title question with another, asking, “What makes an artist an artist?” Upsettingly, it would seem it is not by her own choice or talent. It is decided by the world around her, including the men and “social institutions.” However, it would also appear that hope is always in reach for those who will wake up and grab it. Nochlin left us with this stirring advice:

The “Rejection Quintet” was finished in the order of “Chicago Rejection Drawing”, “Childhood Rejection Drawing”, ‘Female Rejection Drawing”, “Rejection Fantasy Drawing” and finally “Rejection Breakthrough Drawing”. The series’ exploration begins with the first line of “Chicago Rejection Drawing” which asks “How does it feel to be rejected?”. Chicago describes an exhibition her husband was having her hometown. She explains she felt a little jealous so she was interested when a friend of hers told her about a gallery owner who would possibly be willing to give Chicago a show in her hometown. Ultimately the gallery owner rejected her work and turned her down and Chicago was devastated. The second drawing in the series “Childhood Rejection Drawing” addressed the contradiction between Judy Chicago’s “rhetoric” and art. She calls it a gap and explains that the structure that masks her content stems from her time in graduate school where artists would reject her work that lacked structure. Chicago realized that she could not artistically be herself if she wanted her degree. She goes on to describe the rejection she felt from her father because he disapproved of what she exposed. ‘Female Rejection Drawing” is very profound in it she explains how male culture denies that women have separate experience. She addressed the contradiction between her art and rhetoric and explains that it comes from her attempt to use the male established art language to explain her female experience. She ends this piece with what feels like a call to action she uses anaphora to ask how many people will move forward and appreciate women? “Rejection Fantasy Drawing” describes Chicago’s fear of rejection from her mother and friend after they read her manuscript for a book she continues

Judy Chicago (artist, author, feminist and educator) has a career that now spans five decades. In the late 1960s, her inquiry into the history of women began a result of her desire to expose the truth of women’s experiences, both past and present. She still continues on a crusade to change the perception of women from our history, “Women’s history and women’s art need to become part of our cultural and intellectual heritage.” (Chicago, 2011) Through our history women - their struggles, accomplishments and contribution to history, have been overlooked, downplayed and even completely written out of a male dominated society and culture. In anthropologist Sherry Ortner’s 1974 essay “Is Female to Male as Nature Is to Culture?” she supports this view, writing “…woman is being identified with—or, if you will, seems to be a symbol of—something that every culture devalues,” (Ortner, 1974) Where Mendieta's work primarily came from a striving to belong and an understanding of where she came from, I feel that Chicago's aim was to find a place for all women, past and present in this world, starting with herself in the art world. Chicago did explore her peronal heritage in later works entitled 'Birth Project' and 'Holocaust Project'.

Cindy Sherman and Jenny Holzer are artists that stand out in the feminist art movement. They both use different and varied methods to create their work whilst using photography to document this. They both had the same key themes in mind, feminism, gender and issues in society. Both of the artists’ work had a big impact of the movement by the influence their work had on society and the place they had created for themselves in history through their artwork.

Judy’s Art work was very inspirational. Her work follows multiple traditional roles of an artist. It gives you a visual feeling instantaneously. Art isn’t art unless it makes you uncomfortable. Art gives you that extraordinary feeling, and Judy Chicago’s work unquestionably has that. When I first laid eyes on the art work, I automatically thought “oh vagina”, and surprisingly I was correct. It didn’t make me uncomfortable but in fact made me think and wonder why are there a bunch of vaginas. The clarification on her art work made it remarkable, it is a piece of work. I will definitely always remember it because it represents women’s rights, which will always matter. For her to represent women who aren’t even noticed is impressive and it would make me feel good about myself to get some acknowledgment. Judy’s art work reveals a hidden truth, and it helped me feel appreciative for women’s rights because I often don’t think of them because I am a male. So, the feelings of the women who are actually featured in the piece of work is mindboggling.

The Guerrilla Girls speak about sexism in art galleries and the non appreciation of women 's art in the most prestigious galleries of New York. “a very big problem is the fact women don 't collect. ... Men buy the art and call the shots museums. Until women support women and collect each things will never change" (Withers 287). Women artists new to the art world were not accepted, men artist bought their art to present as their own. This way women artist do not get the chance to be recognized for their talent. Making the assumption women are only valued as the model but cannot aspire to be artists and create exceptional work as men would. This is of importance because only 1% or none of the art presented was of women artists. “not only in their appeals to principles of equality, but also, say, in their gesture of adopting the names of deceased female artists as aliases, a gambit tacitly

In terms of a Marxist view of social art history, not only are feminists looking for a change in future art, but an overlook of works from the past that had been misconstrued because of supposed feminine issues that drew away from the common practice of other women during their time. Art from women like Frankenthaler may not have had a direct impact during their time of creation, but in the recent desire for feminism, these works of art are now considered to be a driving