Chicago, Judy (1939–)
Chicago, Judy (1939–)
American artist, educator and feminist. Born Judy Cohen, July 20, 1939, in Chicago, Illinois; University of California, Los Angeles, BA, 1962, MA, 1964; m. Jerry Gerowitz, 1961 (died 1963); m. Lloyd Hamrol; m. Donald Woodman (photographer).
Taught in California and Washington State; became involved in feminist art movement and co-founded Feminist Studio Workshop, Los Angeles; made such films as Womanhouse (1972), which attacked traditional views of female sexuality; most famous and controversial work was The Dinner Party, done in collaboration with craftswomen in Chicago (1974–79); similarly, worked on Birth Project (1980–85); did individual studio work for Powerplay; premiered Holocaust Project: From Darkness to Light (1993) and Resolutions: A Stitch in Time (2000); co-authored with Edward Lucie-Smith, Women and Art: Contested Territory (1999) and published Fragments from the Delta of Venus (2004), a collection of images based on the erotic writing of Anais Nin.
See also autobiographies Through the Flower: My Struggle as a Woman Artist (1975) and Beyond the Flower: The Autobiography of a Feminist Artist (1996); Edward Lucie-Smith, Judy Chicago: An American Vision (2000).