My visit to the Museum

The hallway towards the Dinner Party was void of art as of Saturday, 27^th of April. I wrapped around the corner and I found a detailed summary of Judy Chicago’s “The Dinner Party” to the right as well as several banners hanging from the ceiling on the left. While I did look at the description and the banners, I barely processed what it was talking about. Thus, I went into the exhibit blind. At first, I noticed the triangular shaped setting that was backlit underneath and light from the outside was streaming in from the corners. I noticed the inscriptions under the place settings first as they generated the most importance as there was so many of them. Some initial thoughts I had were that they are artists that contributed to the work. While looking around the place settings, I saw a general of how it was set up. It had vulva like imagery that shapes the plate itself and its own cloth linen with a special design. On the linen itself were intricate designs made of different materials, like wood or cloth embroideries with the woman’s name. These designs also seemed to represent their contributions or profession.

            Some specific place settings that I really enjoyed were Ethel Smyth, Trotula, and most of the goddesses that Chicago displayed. Ethel Smyth was a composer and musician that was born in 1858. Her place setting represented it well as it had a piano as a plate and the linen was made from jean material in the form of an overall. What I thought was interesting, looking at it was that the overalls represented the rejection from the professional music world that she was barred out from because of her gender. It also represented her sexuality, as she was a lesbian, so she was more masculine than what people expected.

            Another example would be Trotula, who was a distinguished female scientist that also suffered from the male gaze as well as underrepresentation. Her plate is of science related, due to her profession as a scientist and doctor. The plate is arranged as a stethoscope or a detailed diagram of the vagina to symbolize her profession. The linen cloth under Trotula’s plate is filled with roots, which could be represent the medicine she developed, like medicinal herbs.

            Other than the place settings, I visited the “High-Style American Interiors” where I saw a real modern looking chair. Turns out there was a Herman-Miller chair that I thought was modern, which apparently a prototype for this chair was developed during this era. The Egyptian Museum was also exciting as most of the artifacts were old.  Something that caught my eye was that females weren’t allowed to get mummified so they had to convert the females to males by turning their skin red to designate them as males, as males were the only ones that could be mummified.