Chicago on Chicago
The Radcliffe Institute’s Schlesinger Library is presenting a long-running exhibit by the groundbreaking artist Judy Chicago. And Tuesday afternoon, to provide the ultimate perspective, it presented Chicago herself. The versatile Chicago has been creating art in a myriad of styles for half a century, and is perhaps best known for her large installation pieces of the 1970s and ’80s reflecting the role of women in culture and history. She also has created major pieces focused on the Holocaust, and performance art using offbeat materials such as fireworks. Tuesday’s discussion, “Judy Chicago and Jane Gerhard in Conversation about Art Education and Popular Feminism,” coincided with the library’s exhibit “Judy Chicago: Through the Archives,” open now through the end of September. The Schlesinger is home to Chicago’s papers. “I often say that in the ’70s we cast the discourse incorrectly. We cast it entirely around gender. Feminism is about values,” Chicago told the Radcliffe audience. “University...