Judy Chicago is an artist, author, feminist and educator whose career spans five decades. Chicago studied at the University of California, Los Angeles, graduating with a Masterâs Degree in painting and sculpture in 1964. In 1970 she launched the first feminist art programme at the California State University, Fresno. At the same time, Chicago dropped her birth name in favour of her birthplace, as a gesture of breaking away from the patriarchal tradition of a woman taking their fatherâs or husbandâs name. Chicago works across media, often using traditional crafts such as needlework and china-painting. She has sometimes enlisted the participation of hundreds of people to create monumental works which are realised collaboratively over a number of years. The unifying goal of her work is to make a place for female-centred imagery and to overcome the erasure of womenâs achievements in art and society. Chicagoâs most influential work, and a milestone in twentieth-century art, is the iconic installation The Dinner Party 1974â9, today a permanent exhibition housed at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum.
