UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Feeding Feminism: Food and Gender Ideology in American Women’s Art, 1960-1979 A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Art History, Theory, and Criticism by Emily Elizabeth Goodman Committee in charge: Professor Norman Bryson, Chair Professor Grant Kester, Co-chair Professor Rebecca Jo Plant Professor Kuiyi Shen Professor Mariana Wardwell 2016 Copyright Emily Elizabeth Goodman, 2016 All rights reserved. SIGNATURE PAGE The Dissertation of Emily Elizabeth Goodman is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: Co-Chair Chair University of California, San Diego 2016 iii DEDICATION For Taylor, my partner in everything. iv EPIGRAPH Richard M. Nixon: I want to show you this kitchen. It is like those of our houses in California. (Nixon points to dishwasher.) Nikita Khrushchev: We have such things. Nixon: This is our newest model. This is the kind which is built in thousands of units for direct installations in the houses. In America, we like to make life easier for women… Khrushchev: Your capitalistic attitude toward women does not occur under Communism. ~ “The Kitchen Debate,” 1959 “We all have to begin together […] because we’re all we have and we have a big job before us. We must unearth the buried and half-hidden treasures of our cunts and bring them into the light and let them shine and dazzle and become art.” ~ Judy Chicago, Letter to the Admissions Committee at California Institute of the Arts, 19711 1Letter to CalArts Admission Board, 1971. Judy Chicago, in Judy Chicago Papers (Boston, MA: Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, 1947-2004). v TABLE OF CONTENTS SIGNATURE PAGE ............................................................................................................................ iii DEDICATION ..................................................................................................................................... iv EPIGRAPH ............................................................................................................................................ v TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................... x VITA ................................................................................................................................................... xiii ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION ........................................................................................ xiv INTRODUCTION: FEMINISM AND ART ...................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1: OUT OF THE KITCHEN AND INTO THE STUDIO ........................................... 19 THE QUESTION OF WOMEN ARTISTS ........................................................................................................... 19 WOMEN’S WORK AND THE HOME IN THE POSTWAR PERIOD ................................................................. 22 POSTWAR WOMEN ARTISTS AT WORK AND AT HOME ............................................................................. 27 THE RISE OF THE 1960S AND THE INCREASING NUMBER OF WOMEN IN THE ART ........................... 34 INVESTIGATIONS INTO AMERICAN WOMANHOOD AND THE RISE OF “SECOND WAVE” FEMINISMS39 WHITE FEMINISMS: LIBERAL FEMINISM AND RADICAL FEMINISM ....................................................... 45 WOMEN’S LIBERATION: FROM ACTION TO THEORY ................................................................................. 50 NOT SIMPLY SISTERHOOD: FEMINISMS OF COLOR .................................................................................... 61 FEMINISM, ART, AND FEMINIST ART ............................................................................................................ 70 ART ACTIVISM IN THE 1960S: ARTISTS’ PROTEST COMMITTEE, ANGRY ARTS, AND THE ART WORKERS COALITION ..................................................................................................................................... 72 THE WOMEN’S ART MOVEMENT: THE INTERSECTION OF FEMINIST AND ART ACTIVISM ................ 78 vi A SPACE OF THEIR OWN: ALTERNATIVE, WOMEN’S ART INSTITUTIONS ............................................. 86 “THE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL:” FEMINIST CONSCIOUSNESS IN WOMEN’S ART PRACTICES ............ 97 CONCLUSIONS: OUT OF THE KITCHEN AND INTO THE STUDIO ............................................................. 100 CHAPTER 2: COOKING ............................................................................................................... 102 FOOD, DAILY LIFE, AND THE SEMIOTIC PROCESS ................................................................................... 105 WOMEN’S WORK AND LABOR AS FEMININITY ........................................................................................ 117 MATERNAL COOKING AND SCIENTIFIC COOKERY ................................................................................... 120 ALISON KNOWLES: THE WOMAN OF FLUXUS .......................................................................................... 127 COLD WAR DOMESTICITY AND COOKING IN THE EARLY 1960S ......................................................... 139 PERFORMING COOKING AND GENDER: MAKE A SALAD .......................................................................... 147 MARTHA ROSLER: ART EDUCATION AND ACTIVISM IN NEW YORK AND CALIFORNIA .................... 155 THE GOURMET AND THE HOUSEWIFE: FOOD CULTURE IN THE LATE 1960S AND EARLY 1970S 163 STARVE A RAT TODAY!: SECOND WAVE FEMINISM’S CHALLENGES TO DOMESTIC LABOR ............ 170 THE SEMIOTICS OF THE KITCHEN: FOOD DISCOURSE IN THE WORK OF MARTHA ROSLER ............. 174 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................................... 178 CHAPTER 3: SERVING ................................................................................................................ 181 JUDY CHICAGO AND FEMINIST ART ............................................................................................................ 185 FROM FEMALE IMAGERY TO THE DINNER PARTY ................................................................................... 191 THE DINNER PARTY AND THE LABOR QUESTION ................................................................................... 194 FEMINIST EDUCATION IN THE FORM OF DINNER PARTIES ................................................................... 197 JUDY CHICAGO HOSTS THE DINNER PARTY ............................................................................................... 202 FROM SERVANTS TO SERVERS: THE RISE OF WAITRESSING ................................................................ 213 THE FEMINIST STUDIO WORKSHOP: AN ORIGIN STORY ....................................................................... 221 THE WAITRESSES: READY TO ORDER? ..................................................................................................... 226 vii BEYOND SIMPLY SERVICE: THE WAITRESSES AND EVERYDAY WOMANHOOD ................................. 234 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................................................. 238 CHAPTER 4: FEEDING ................................................................................................................ 243 FEEDING AND FEMININITY: BIOLOGICAL REALITY AND GENDER IDENTITY ...................................... 246 THE FEMINIST ART PROGRAM AND THE ORIGINS OF WOMANHOUSE ................................................. 252 CONSCIOUSNESS RAISING AND THE FEMINIST UNCONSCIOUS IN THE NURTURANT KITCHEN ........ 260 BAD MOTHERS AND RADICAL DAUGHTERS ............................................................................................. 268 FEMINIST ART WORKERS: IDENTITY POLITICS AND FEMINIST PEDAGOGY ...................................... 275 FEEDING FEMINIST ART WORKERS: HEAVEN OR HELL? ....................................................................... 282 MOTHERHOOD IS POWERFUL ..................................................................................................................... 288 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................................................. 297 CHAPTER 5: EATING .................................................................................................................. 302 DYING TO BE THIN: THE NEW FEMININE IDEAL ..................................................................................... 304 THE FEMINIST RESPONSE: BREAKING DOWN THE BEAUTY MYTH ..................................................... 312 ELEANOR ANTIN: NEW YORK TO CALIFORNIA ........................................................................................ 318 ELEANOR ANTIN’S FEMINIST CONSCIOUSNESS RISES ............................................................................ 325 LITERALLY CARVING: DIETING AND THE DELINEATION OF A FEMININE BODY ................................ 334 MARTHA ROSLER’S PERSONAL POLITICS ................................................................................................. 341 CRITIQUING THE “THIN IDEAL” IN MARTHA ROSLER’S LOSING ..........................................................