"The Dinner Party": Wing One Trivia Quiz

Answer: Painted china place settings on embroidered runners

"The Dinner Party" consists of a triangular table, 48 feet long on each side, on which are place settings for 39 important women from history. Each setting contains a plate embellished with what Ms. Chicago calls "vulvul" imagery. The plates rest on embroidered runners, different for each woman, that celebrate traditional female crafts; the table stands on a tile floor adorned with the names of 999 additional women.

It is divided into three sections, or wings, which follow chronological history. Ms. Chicago co-ordinated the china painting and embroidery and has stated that these arts are less respected because they are traditionally produced by women. (info from www.judychicago.com)

Answer: Happening first in time

"Primordial", meaning first, is from the same Latin root that gives English the words "primary", "primitive", and "prime". As interpreted by Judy Chicago and the women of "The Dinner Party", the Primordial Goddess is the ancient female being from whom all life emerged; the Earth Mother, or Earth herself.

The Goddess's place setting rests on a fur; her plate is a rich reddish-brown, and above it are written the words "all deities into a single male godhead". (lower case the artist's.)

Answer: Hinduism; a challenge to the notion that female power is destructive

Kali, a major goddess of Hinduism, is associated with death and destruction. However, despite her ferocious appearance and generally negative press, Kali is also a form of the Divine Mother. She brings change, causes transformations, and removes ignorance and fear. It is for these reasons that she takes her place at "The Dinner Party", and also as a symbol of many centuries of powerful, misunderstood and demonized women.

Kali's plate is a striking red and gray and reminds me of fire radiating out from a central, female core.

Because statues of Kali typically present the goddess as many-limbed, I couldn't resist the multitasking incorrect choice.

Answer: Wisdom

Very simply, "Sophia" means "Wisdom" in Greek. Hagia Sophia, meaning Holy Wisdom, was the major basilica of the Eastern Othodox Church in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul). Sophia is included in "The Dinner Party" as a representation of feminine wisdom and power in the spiritual realm.

Her plate looks like a stylized flower, yet with considerably more energy and a suggestion of the fire of wisdom.

Answer: Creating peace and prosperity in Egypt

Hatshepsut was one of very few female Pharaohs. Despite much opposition (largely from male relatives who would have preferred to be Pharaoh themselves), she reigned for twenty years. Her time on the throne was notable not for wars, but for exploration, peace, and the building of great monuments, among them Hapshepsut's own tomb, on which are inscribed these words:

"I will make you to be the first of all living creatures, you will rise as king of Upper and of Lower Egypt, as your father Amon, who loves you, did ordain."
(from http://www.bediz.com/hatshep/story.html)

Upper and Lower Egypt were united around 3000 BCE, and the Library of Alexandria was founded in 283 BCE.

Hatshepsut's plate is brilliant in primary colors and gold, and rests on a white runner embroidered with her name and a border of hieroglyphics.

Answer: Judith

Judith, slayer of Holofernes, is the only Biblical heroine at "The Dinner Party", although there are many Bible names included in the 999 names written in gold on the tile floor on which the artwork's table stands. The Apocrypha are fourteen Biblical books accepted by the Catholic and Orthodox churches, but not by Jews or Protestants.

Judith's plate rests on a runner featuring an embroidered sword.

Answer: Poet

Although the term "Lesbian" is from Sappho's home island, it is as a poet that she is remembered and accorded a place at "The Dinner Party". Judy Chicago maintains that Sappho "here represents the flowering of female creativity before a repressive backlash."

Sappho's plate is blue and white and is among the most flowerlike of the Wing One plates. Her runner is classically Greek in that it is devoid of fussy ornamentation.

Answer: Boadaceia

Boadaceia (often spelled Boudicca) was a Celtic widowed queen who led a revolt against Roman oppressors in 60-61 AD. Even Tacitus, a Roman historian, describes the horrors Boadaceia and her daughters endured at the hands of the Romans.

Aspasia, also a subject in Wing One of "The Dinner Party", was a 5th-century BCE Greek woman who fought for women's rights.

Boadaceia's plate, in red, brown and yellow, is one of the most overtly sexual in Wing One, and also incorporates subtle Celtic motifs. It rests on a thick felt runner.

Answer: False

Unfortunately, Hypatia lived during a time of conflict, when science and philosophy were regarded as enemies of religion. She was brutally murdered by a mob of Christians that may even have included monks among its number, and her body was defiled and burned.

Hypatia's plate is primarily green, comprising a four-petaled, leafy flower surrounding a stylized wheel. It is less overtly sexual than many of the other plates, perhaps symbolizing Hypatia's emphasis on the intellectual life.

Answer: Flowers and butterflies

Stylized flower and butterfly symbols are seen throughout the three wings and thirty-nine place settings of "The Dinner Party". They are often rendered in such a way as to suggest anatomical aspects of women and women's sexuality. This is by no means unique to Ms. Chicago, as anyone who is familiar with feminist artists such as Georgia O'Keeffe can attest.

Thank you for joining me at Wing One of "The Dinner Party", and I hope you have enjoyed the experience.