Gloria Steinem (left), with Hammer Museum trustee Rita Wilson, the artist Judy Chicago and the museum's director Ann Philbin at the 2019 Gala in the Garden Photo: Donato Sardella/Getty Images
Along with celebrating Ann Philbins 20th anniversary as director, this years Gala in the Garden at the Hammer Museum honoured the artist Judy Chicago and the film-maker Jordan Peele, raising $2.7m for the institution. But the real get of the glitzy night was the feminist Gloria Steinem as a presenter.
Philbin told The Art Newspaper that she asked Steinem if she would consider being a Hammer gala honoree three different years and was soundly rejected each time. The trick to success this time: asking her to introduce Chicago instead, which she promptly agreed to. Who knew that Steinem, who launched Ms magazine in New York in January 1972, found time that winter to visit WomanHouse in Los Angeles, the short-lived art space that Chicago and Miriam Schapiro developed for their Feminist Art Program at CalArts?
The two took over a dilapidated Hollywood mansion to house performances and installations for a month, from Chicagos tampon-studded “menstruation bathroom” to Faith Wildings crocheted womb room, and it all made a huge impression on Steinem.
“You can pretty much divide the art world, and certainly I can divide my life, into before and after Judy Chicago,” Steinem said. Read More – Source
