In 1999, in the context of her current marriage, Chicago
created
Voices from the Song of Songs,
a suite of prints to illus-
trate a new translation from the Hebrew Bible by Marsha Falk,
which emphasizes shared pleasure between husband and wife
and reflects Jewish tradition, which encourages free expression
of a woman’s sexuality to her own husband. Chicago’s
Merger
Poem
about “merging the masculine and feminine” was set
to music by Bonia Shur, the director emeritus of liturgical
arts at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
in Cincinnati, and has been included in many prayer books.
A feminist vision inspires Chicago and Woodman in their
celebration of Passover each spring, when they travel from
their home in Belen, New Mexico, to nearby Santa Fe, to join
friends at a
seder
conducted with a
Haggadah
of her own design.
Following the Jewish mandate to choose life,
Resolutions:
A Stitch in Time
(2000)
was Chicago’s attempt to build on
the hopeful note in
Rainbow Shabbat
at the end of the
Holo-
caust Project.
Working with women needleworkers, most of
whom returned from earlier projects, she designed pieces that
emphasized seven themes necessary for human survival:
“
Family, Responsibility, Conservation, Tolerance, Human
Rights, Hope, and Change.” In Chicago’s radical and perhaps
utopian image,
Bury the Hatchet
,
Christian, Jewish, and
Islamic clergymen literally grasp the handle of a hatchet,
metaphorically coming together to end their disagreements.
Inspired by the social ideals of her father that have their roots
in Jewish teachings, Chicago, in the words of the writer
Phyllis Chesler, is “a profoundly Jewish-American artist.”
Dr. Gail Levin,
Exhibition Co-Curator and Professor of Art
History, American Studies, andWomen’s Studies, Baruch College
and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
Bury the Hatchet,
Resolutions: A Stitch in Time
© Judy Chicago, 2000. Painting, needlepoint, appliqué & embroidery,
24”
x 18”. Needlework by Lynda Paterson. Assisted by Jane Thompson
&
Mary Ewanoski. Photo © Donald Woodman
.
Collection: Artist and
Needleworkers
This essay is adapted from
Becoming Judy Chicago: A Biography of the
Artist
(
Harmony Books, New York, 2007). © Gail Levin 2007
9
|
Merger Poem
© Judy Chicago, 1988. Lithograph, 20” x 30”. Collection: Through the Flower