MONTEREY, CA.- The Monterey Museum of Art announces recent major collection acquisitions of two works by formative Feminist artist Judy Chicago in celebration of the Museum’s 60th Anniversary year and on the heels of the Year of the Woman 2018. Newly acquired works by Chicago and other artists will be on view at MMA Pacific Street beginning Friday, March 15, 2019.

Recently recognized as one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People”, Chicago attended graduate school at the University of California Los Angeles where she developed her characteristic style. Chicago went on to become a formative artist of the California Feminist Movement, establishing the Feminist Art Program at such prestigious institutions as California Institute of the Arts and Fresno State College. Both MMA acquisitions date to this period just out of graduate school and come from the collection of Anita Brenner, who was married to Frank Gehry in the late 1950s and 60s.

“We are thrilled to have such strong support from our generous donors and members who made these acquisitions possible. These new contributions enable us to add new and diverse works to our collection, greatly enriching our exploration of the breadth and depth of California Art,” says MMA Executive Director, Stuart A. Chase.

New Acquisitions:

Judy Chicago (b. 1939)
In My Mother’s House, c. 1962 – 1964
Acrylic on stoneware, 24 x 18 x 6 inches
Purchase by exchange: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Bates, Mrs. J.B. Heywood, Elizabeth George Lawlor in memory of Dorothy George Meakin, William and Renee Peterson, Mr. and Mrs. John Shephard, Mr. and Mrs. E.V. Stuade, Carolyn Lewis Nielson, Albert Denney, Nancy Stillwell Easterbrook, Margaret Wentworth Owings, Naedra B. Robinson, Elizabeth Tompkins, and an anonymous donor.

Made in Southern California circa 1962 – 1964, In My Mother’s House is an early and unique example of the artist’s longstanding exploration of female empowerment, organic abstraction, and the productive tension between painting and sculpture. The acrylic-on-clay work is both male and female, phallic and yonic. In My Mother’s House is a trans-totem and an avant-garde altarpiece to sexual liberation.

Judy Chicago (b. 1939)
Emblem, c. 1962 – 1964
Acrylic on Masonite, 42 x 42 inches
Purchase by exchange: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Bates, Mrs. J.B. Heywood, Elizabeth George Lawlor in memory of Dorothy George Meakin, William and Renee Peterson, Mr. and Mrs. John Shephard, Mr. and Mrs. E.V. Staude, Carolyn Lewis Nielson , Albert Denney, Nancy Stillwell Easterbrook, Margaret Wentworth Owings, Naedra B. Robinson, Elizabeth Tompkins, and an anonymous donor.

Judy Chicago dealer and expert Aaron Payne of Santa Fe, NM stated “I believe Emblem to be a significant and seminal work. It was exhibited in the earliest shows Judy had in Los Angeles at Rolf Neilson Gallery. These early shows right out of graduate school at UCLA were fundamental to her establishment as an artist.”