Judy Chicago: Revelations

by Judy Chicago, Martha Easton (Contributor), Hans Ulrich Obrist (Contributor)

A new work from Judy Chicago, fifty years in the Judy Revelations is the work she thought would nevers ee the light of day. Her captivating narrative combatting the erasure of women from history unites seamlessly with illustrations first made in the 1970s and new work in a striking, contemporary design. Judy Chicago’s iconic feminist work The Dinner Party represents in visual form the remarkable women history forgot. Judy Revelations is the highly illustrated chronicle of their lives and achievements, fifty years in the making. A feminist retelling of the creation myth and the course of human history, dreamed up during the creation of The Dinner Party and published for the first time as an illuminated manuscript for our times. Uniting archival artwork, much of it previously unseen, and new work created especially for the book, Judy Revelations reads like an engrossing novel, and will have the feel of a sacred text newly discovered by the reader. Illustrated in color throughout

Genres: Art

304 pages, Hardcover

Published June 18, 2024

Reviews

[Louise]

STUNNING

In an introductory essay, Judy Chicago writes “My original idea was to publish a modern day illuminated manuscript...” to serve as a catalog/companion to her 1979 installation “The Dinner Party" where a plate and settings depicted a female artist or advocate. This book is the product of Chicago’s 60 year old quest.

The book has 5 parts.

Part 1 merges creation/birthing myths and legends from Australia, Babylon, Hawaii, Japan, Mesopotamia, Nigeria, North America and other places. The writing style is part Biblical and part fantasy.

Parts 2 & 3 describe the women honored by a place at “The Dinner Party”’s table. Selection of the honorees required significant research because women are not present in indexes, anthologies and bibliographies available in the 1970's.

The writing style for the bios of the honorees reflects the time of their subject. For instance the text for Part Two ("Myths, Legends and Silhouettes") merges fable and medieval writing styles. For the women in Part 3 ("Yearnings") there is a more modern reporting style.

All the bios show the obstacles the women faced and their (mostly partial) success in navigating them.

In Part 4, the Goddess convenes her “Apostles and Disciples”. In harsh Biblical style metaphors she shows the women the injustice the world has meted out to those who challenged the unequal power of the men. She inspires them.

“Visions of the Apocalypse” which is Part V shows division of opinion among and between men and women upon return of the newly informed apostles and disciples. Those dependent on their power and desperate to maintain it reacted with violence and a reconciliation.

The book ends with an essay by Martha Easton (an historian specializing in medieval arts) and a conversation of Hans Ulrich Oboist (a curator and writer) with Judy Chicago.

Besides the many drawings (and illuminations) throughout the text there are plates of Chicago’s work.

Judy Chicago has proven herself a great artist in a variety of media. Along with “The Dinner Party” this catalog/companion is a timeless manuscript showing her to be a skilled writer as well. This book, should be in the curriculum of any college level art appreciation class.

Thames and Hudson, whose book designs I have come to admire, has hit it out of the ballpark with this one. Each page is beautifully designed. Selection of script (and script placement) color, paper and arrangement of art work are perfect.

I highly recommend this book for those who appreciates art and its use in communicating difficult moral and cultural issues.