The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago | Formal Analysis

The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago | Formal Analysis The Dinner Party is a mixed media feminist piece crafted by Judy Chicago and over four-hundred women consisting of ceramic plates, embroidered and woven table runners, woven entry banners, and painted china. This piece sits on a floor made of porcelain tiles which contains the names of 919 women in history. The construction of this piece started in 1974 and took five years to finish. This gigantic piece is on display in the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The structure of this masterpiece is a triangular table, forty-eight feet long on each side, that holds a total of thirty-nine place settings.[1] Each place setting represents a woman in history that has been widely recognized for her achievements. The three sides of the artwork signify women from different time periods. Looking at the piece from the picture below, the side to the right is wing one which covers women from Prehistory to Classical Rome. The back side is wing two which covers Christianity to the Reformation. Finally, the last side is the third wing which covers women from the American revolution until the Womens Revolution.[2] Each plate has a sculpted or painted vagina, done in period style. Underneath each plate is a table runner that is either woven, embroidered, or a mix of the two, some even have special additions to the runners which will be addressed in the following paragraphs. On wing one there is a place setting for the Primordial Goddess. The Primordial Goddess was believed to be the Goddess who created all of life. Her plate, like all the others is painted in the form of a vagina, this vagina in particular is suppose to represent the Goddess female genital organ as being the ground zero of all life on earth.[3] Her table runner, along with some others, stands out among the crowd. The runner, while being embroidered with her name like every place setting, also has unborn calfskin stitched on top of the table runner with little white shells placed around the calfskin. The calfskin also helps represent the Goddess being the beginning point of all life. Wing two holds the place setting for Saint Bridget, a woman born in 450 A.D. who built the first convent in her home country of Ireland after hearing St. Patrick speak. She continued to build convents all over the country and to this day Saint Bridget has many convents, buildings, and even a well named after her. Her plate is painted to represent a vagina, although the meaning behind the style and color is unclear. Saint Bridgets table runner has a wooden cross fixed to the top to symbolize her devotion to Christianity.[4] Caroline Herschels place setting can be found on wing three. Herschel was born in Hanover, Germany and is known for many things, all relating to the science of astronomy. Herschel moved to England to help her brother and became extremely interested in his study of astronomy. By the end of her life, Herschel had discovered eight new comets, 2,500 nebulae and clusters, and she had been appointed as her brothers assistant to King George III; this made her the first woman in history to be recognized for her work in science. Herschels plate seems to be painted in the traditional colors of the night sky, representing her work with the stars. It can be theorized that the eye in the center of her plate could represent Herschel looking out at the stars, but this theory cannot be proven.[5] Herschels table runner is beautifully embroidered with the sun in the middle surrounded by symbols of astronomy and bright yellow stars. There are eight comet-like figures towards the top of the runner whic h represents the eight comets that Herschel discovered during her lifetime. Lastly, her name is embroidered at the bottom with the C in Caroline formed into a telescope. The porcelain tiled floor contains the names of 919 important women in history whose names, unlike the thirty-nine women with place settings, went unmentioned throughout history despite their amazing achievements. The names include women such as Mary Shelley, the author who is most famously known for writing Frankenstein. Caroline Schlegel is another woman who is inscribed on the floor. She was deeply involved in the German Romantic Movement and is responsible for many letters and essays being translated in English.[6] Created during the feminist movement, Judy Chicagos The Dinner Party is a massive installation with an equally massive meaning. Women who accomplish a lot in their time often go unappreciated. Chicago did her best with the help she had to make sure that these women were no longer under appreciated. From the detailed genital plates to the equally detailed table runners, Chicago set out to make a statement and there is no argument that she hit the mark. Word Count: 800 Chicago, Judy. The Dinner Party. Mixed Media. Brooklyn: Through the Flower, 2017. From Through the Flower website. Photograph, http://judychicago.arted.psu.edu/archived/dpcp/e.php?e=1, (3/14/2017). Bibliography: Davies, Penelope J. E., Walter B. Denny, Frima Fox Hofrichter, Joseph Jacobs, Ann M. Roberts, and David L. Simon. Jansons History of Art: The Western Tradition. 8th ed. Vol. 2. New York: Learning Solutions, 2011. Place Settings. Brooklyn Museum: Place Settings. Accessed March 13, 2017. https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/place_settings/. Chicago, Judy, Frances Borzello, and Jane Gerhard. The Dinner Party Judy Chicago: Restoring Women to History. New York: Monacelli Press, 2014. Chicago, Judy. The Dinner Party. Mixed Media. Brooklyn: Through the Flower, 2017. From Through the Flower website. Photograph, http://judychicago.arted.psu.edu/archived/dpcp/e.php?e=1, (3/14/2017). [1] Penelope J. E. Davies et al., Jansons History of Art: The Western Tradition, 8th ed., vol. 2 (New York: Learning Solutions, 2011), 1069. [2] Place Settings, Brooklyn Museum: Place Settings, , accessed March 13, 2017, https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/place_settings/, 1. [3] Judy Chicago, Frances Borzello, and Jane Gerhard, The Dinner Party Judy Chicago: Restoring Women to History (New York: Monacelli Press, 2014), 24. [4] Ibid., 86. [5] Chicago, The Dinner Party, 170. [6] Ibid., 181.

Grapes of Wrath :: essays research papers

The novel The Grapes of Wrath is in many ways a one-of-a-kind piece of literature. This work is set up unlike any other book, written in a series of chapters and inter-chapters, which do a amazing job of informing the reader of the travels the characters in the book are going through. Not only does the story focus on the problems one family goes through, but explains the problem is happening to many more people than the story focus's on. Steinbeck does not leave out a single detail about the Joad family and their journey to California, and that in itself is what makes his writing so entertaining. Not only is this a powerful topic to write about, but also the outstanding writing style of author John Steinbeck makes this book a masterpiece. From the intensely vivid descriptions of the land to the true-to-the-heart portrayal of people, Steinbeck makes the words flow right off the pages. The first and most major notability of Steinbeck's style is his lavish descriptions of almost everything he writes about. When Steinbeck writes about an unadorned field he is able to give it the brilliance that it deserves. Instead of just a few acres of dirt, Steinbeck makes the reader aware of the heart and soul of the field. In the first paragraph Steinbeck draws out the situation of the drought and hence, the dustbowl. He explains, "The rain crust broke and the dust lifted up out of the fields and drove gray plumes into the air like sluggish smoke". In this short sentence the reader has an intense picture of this massive amount of dust blowing away. The plot of The Grapes of Wrath is a fairly simple one. The families are moving out of states such as Oklahoma and traveling west because they can no longer make a decent living growing crops. However, if one looks past this simple plot they will find out there is much more then meets the eye. The presence of greed is located throughout the novel; an example of this is located in chapter fifteen when it goes on to explain the different ways the waitress, Mae, acts depending on the financial status of the customer. If she is tending to a truck driver, whom she knows has money, she will put on a show to lure money out of him, but if it is a traveler going down route 66 that act disappears.

Revenge Tragedy: Hamlet Essay

For a play to be considered a revenge tragedy, revenge has to be a prevalent theme throughout. Revenge needs to be intertwined in character interactions, and have a strong hold on the driving force of the plot. The desires of Hamlet, Laertes, and young Fortinbras each exhibit how the plot of Hamlet, by William Shakespeare revolves entirely around theories of revenge. The theme of revenge starts off very early in the play, when Hamlet speaks with the ghost of his deceased father. When the ghost tells Hamlet how Claudius murdered him, Hamlet is infuriated and overtaken with feelings of responsibility to right the wrong that has been done; to murder Claudius. The effects of this experience on Hamlet are portrayed clearly in the following quote, â€Å"And so I am revenged. That would be scanned: A villain kills my father, and for that, I, his sole son, d this same villain send to heaven;† (p. 161, 3.4). This quote clearly exemplifies Hamlets feeling toward this event. Being his fa thers only son, he feels completely responsible for his fathers vengeance. Revenge has caused the downfall of many a person. Its consuming nature causes one to act recklessly through anger rather than reason. Revenge is an emotion easily rationalized; one turn deserves another. However, this is a very dangerous theory to live by. Throughout Hamlet, revenge is a dominant theme. Fortinbras, Laertes, and Hamlet all seek to avenge the deaths of their fathers. But in so doing, all three rely more on emotion than thought, and take a very big gamble, a gamble which eventually leads to the downfall and death of all but one of them. King Fortinbras was slain by King Hamlet in a sword battle. This entitled King Hamlet to the land that was possessed by Fortinbras because it was written in a seal’d compact. â€Å"†¦our valiant Hamlet-for so this side of our known world esteem’d him-did slay this Fortinbras.† Young Fortinbras was enraged by his father’s murder and sought revenge against Denmark. He wanted to reclaim the land that had been lost to Denmark when his father was†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Now sir, young Fortinbras†¦as it doth well appear unto our state-†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦ †¦to exact revenge for his father’s death. Revenge can be an invaluable tool to amass success and wealth, or it can be a fatal flaw that guarantees immanent death. It is a dangerous emotion, which can easily consume, however it can be used to great satisfaction. Perhaps it is these qualities that lead us to allow ourselves to act on its impulses. The lessons learned by both Hamlet and Laertes are something that should be remembered. Revenge is not to be taken lightly. When acted on this is one emotion that can definitely come back to haunt you.

What Success Means to Me - 727 Words

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