Great Works II

I have been lived in Brooklyn for several years and I never thought about visiting Brooklyn Museum of Art. Thanks to this assignment, I finally have an opportunity to explore vast collections and great cultural treasures all around the world within a day. They include Ancient Egypt‘s Divine Feline exhibition, African Innovation gallery as well as Native American spiritual art pieces. In addition to these ancient art works, you can also visit modern and contemporary art works from exhibition such as Revolution Works from the Black Arts Movement. The most memorable exhibition for me is The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago, the most significant icon of 1970’s feminist art.

I was attracted by the exhibition first because of its spectacular open triangle shape connecting there separate tables. Each table was decorated by thirteen unique place settings. For each setting, there is a gold ceramic chalice on the upper right corner, a delicate china-painted plate in the center, utensils displayed evenly on both sides of the plate and an embroidered cloth placed underneath everything. In each cloth, a well-designed name appears intricately. When I looked at the floor, I was surprised to see many black-colored words spreading across the floor under the triangle table.  As a spectator, I have many questions in my mind. What is the purpose of this party? What do they celebrate for? Who are behind those names? Why only 39 plates are displaced? Why choose a triangle setting? What do those words mean?

The Dinner Party was created for recognizing and celebrating the achievement of 1,038 actual and mythical female figures publicly. Most of these women had been neglected by society when they were alive. Thirty-nine place settings represent the most significant ones and the names of the other 999 women are inscribed on the floor. I admire this exhibition not only because of its innovative design, but also its meaningfulness. It reminds me of the sensuous woman and women figures in Candide.  All these women figures suffer from inequality in various ways and contexts.  The sensuous women didn’t have equal social status and opportunities to support herself as men did; therefore, she had to depend on men and eventually enjoyed doing so. Honored women figures struggled for making their ideas known, fought against gender perception and fought for equal rights. I can’t stop thinking the word-feminist after I left the museum. What does it really mean by being a feminist? Does the desire for equal rights enough label a woman feminist?