From our art columnist, Jarvis MacKinnon III:
Members of the Dickinson Organization of Poetry Enthusiasts visited New York City last weekend -- the travelogue from our trip is HERE -- and on one of the days, we visited the Brooklyn Museum.
The main draw to see the museum was a painting by Edward Hopper ("Macomb's Da Bridge"). Hopper was a lover of Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request), and he said the life and poetry of Dickinson was his greatest inspiration as a painter.
However, when we arrived at the museum we were also thrilled to learn that it is the permanent home of Judy Chicago's "The Dinner Party."
Members of the Dickinson Organization of Poetry Enthusiasts visited New York City last weekend -- the travelogue from our trip is HERE -- and on one of the days, we visited the Brooklyn Museum.
The main draw to see the museum was a painting by Edward Hopper ("Macomb's Da Bridge"). Hopper was a lover of Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request), and he said the life and poetry of Dickinson was his greatest inspiration as a painter.
However, when we arrived at the museum we were also thrilled to learn that it is the permanent home of Judy Chicago's "The Dinner Party."
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What is "The Dinner Party"?
Here is information from the Brooklyn Museum's site: "The Dinner Party, an important icon of 1970s feminist art and a milestone in twentieth-century art, is presented as the centerpiece around which the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art is organized. The Dinner Party comprises a massive ceremonial banquet, arranged on a triangular table with a total of thirty-nine place settings, each commemorating an important woman from history."
More information is HERE.
Of course, we were thrilled to find a place setting for the Belle of Amherst, Emily Dickinson, at "The Dinner Party." We were a little surprised, though, that a prominent color at her seat was pink -- but hey, we were happy that she was included in the guest (and rightly so).
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Who else is at the table? Below is a complete list:
| 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. Boadicea 13. Hypatia Wing II: From the Beginnings of Christianity to the Reformation 14. Marcella 15. Saint Bridget 16. Theodora 17. Hrosvitha 18. Trota of Salerno 19. Eleanor of Aquitaine 20. Hildegarde of Bingen 21. Petronilla de Meath 22. Christine de Pisan 23. Isabella d'Este 24. Elizabeth I 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 |  Above: The first place setting is for Primordial Goddess. Note that the runner looks like an animal skin.  For information for each of the women at the table in Judy Chicago's "the Dinner Party," click HERE. |
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