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Judy Chicago
Driving the World to Destruction (iconic silkscreen, signed, #35/50) Wood Frame

1988

About the Item

Judy Chicago Driving the World to Destruction, 1988 Silkscreen on wove paper Pencil signed, titled, dated and numbered 35/50 on the front Included with this work is an elegant hand made wood frame. Measurements: Frame included: Floated and framed in a museum quality wood frame with UV plexiglass 35.25" (vertical) x 46" (horizontal) x 2" (width) Artwork: 30 × 40 1/4 inches "Who is driving the world to destruction?", if you were to ask feminist artist Judy Chicago, the answer is toxic masculinity. In 2023-4 she was the subject of a sprawling career retrospective at the New Museum in New York, aptly titled Herstory. One of the highlights of the New Museum show is a monumental painting entitled Driving the World to Destruction. The present silkscreen is based upon the original painting shown at the New Museum. (We have included an installation photo of the painting exhibited at the New Museum, for reference only, courtesy of the New York Times.) This iconic silkscreen is based upon Judy Chicago's eponymous 1985 painting. In 1982-87, Chicago investigated the toxic construct of masculinity. While traveling through Italy in 1982, Chicago was inspired by the style and scale of Renaissance painting, though she noted that, of course, it served to heroize the male as the harbinger of reason and virtue. Images of heroic men would of course return to more overtly evil ends with fascist neoclassicism. To combat this, Chicago renders the male body in the statuesque Renaissance style and oftentimes with the same horizontality of the frieze to different ends: to expose the destructive and petulant nature of masculinity. Jonathan D. Katz describes the series as in line with deconstructionist/conceptual art, “In appropriating a tradition of heroic masculinity in order to dissect and undercut a tradition of heroic masculinity, Chicago thus makes irony her handmaiden, the very irony that was, at the time these works were first shown, increasingly in evidence as a means of resistance across the art world at large.” In the Me-Too era, Chicago, one of the very first self-identified feminist artists, is now having her day - one of the hottest artists in the press and art fairs. Her works, about male power, are eerily prescient. The artist herself made this observation during the 2018 Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court hearings when she posted on Instagram: "It's really sad to see my paintings come true decades after they were created" - referenced in this Artsy editorial below: "Judy Chicago's Work Reveals Toxic Masculinity." This work is elegantly floated and framed in a gorgeous wood frame with museum conservation standards. Judy Chicago Biography Born Judy Cohen in Chicago, Illinois, in 1939, Chicago attended the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of California, Los Angeles. Chicago’s early work was Minimalist, and she was part of the landmark Primary Structures exhibition in 1966 at The Jewish Museum in New York. She turned to feminist content in the late 1960s. At this time she changed her last name to Chicago, the location of her birth. Believing in the need for a feminist pedagogy for female art students, Chicago began the first Feminist Art Program at California State University, Fresno, in 1970. The following year, with artist Miriam Schapiro, she co-founded the Feminist Art Program at California Institute of the Arts, Valencia. Womanhouse (1972), a collaborative installation the two artists created with their students, transformed an abandoned building into a house representative of women’s experiences. Chicago is perhaps best known for her iconic The Dinner Party (1974–1979), which celebrates women’s history through place settings designed for 39 important women. The monumental, collaborative project incorporates traditional women’s crafts such as embroidery, needlepoint, and ceramics. Chicago’s work has continued to address themes from women’s lives with The Birth Project (1980–1985) and The Holocaust Project (1985–1993). She is a prolific lecturer and writer, and she has taught at Duke and Indiana Universities and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her numerous awards include grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Getty Foundation and four honorary doctorates. She currently resides with her husband, photographer Donald Woodman, with whom she collaborates on artistic and teaching opportunities. -Courtesy National Museum of Women in the Arts
  • Creator:
    Judy Chicago (1939, American)
  • Creation Year:
    1988
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 35.25 in (89.54 cm)Width: 46 in (116.84 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    Very good condition with no apparent issued. held in wooden frame; ships framed. The frame is in very good condition; it might have one or two small nicks as the work has been exhibited.
  • Gallery Location:
    New York, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1745212979532

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