cover image Becoming Judy Chicago: A Biography of the
\t\t  Artist

Becoming Judy Chicago: A Biography of the \t\t Artist

Gail Levin, .\t\t . Harmony, $29.95 (485pp) ISBN 978-1-4000-5412-1

With Judy Chicago, Levin (Edward \t\t Hopper) takes on a subject who has spent most of her career fighting \t\t for her place in a male-dominated and masculinized art world. As the title \t\t suggests, the book shows how the daughter of a radical Jewish Communist became \t\t the power behind The Dinner Party (1979), a \t\t work that forces women's history forward on women's terms, expressed through \t\t craft and female imagery. Often described as outspoken, confrontational, strong \t\t willed and difficult by even her closest colleagues and friends, Chicago carved \t\t a path for other women artists. She demanded that her students—all \t\t female—live and create a radically new and feminist movement in the arts. \t\t Levin captures Chicago's struggle with her emerging feminism in the context of \t\t her marriages, her art and her role as teacher and collaborator. Levin handles \t\t the complexity of Chicago's relationships with both men and women deftly, in a \t\t manner that exemplifies the issues many women have gone through as they \t\t attempted to stake their claim in a man's world. Although not an authorized \t\t biography, this was written with Chicago's aid. Hagiographic at times and \t\t sometimes burdened by its living and larger-than-life subject, the book is an \t\t enlightening look at this controversial artist and at feminist art in general. \t\t 16 pages of color photos, 15 b&w photos. (Feb.)

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FYI: The Brooklyn Museum of Art will \t\t exhibit The Dinner Party this spring.