Beyond the Runway: Judy Chicago on the Power of Art and Returning to the Womb

PARIS — Judy Chicago is having the time of her life. At 80, the feminist artist, who views herself as an art world outsider, has been given a global platform, courtesy of Maria Grazia Chiuri, who commissioned her to create the set for her Dior spring haute couture show. The installation — 300 feet long, 65 feet high and 50 feet wide — represents a reclining goddess figure, and was originally designed in the Seventies but never produced. With the help of show producer Alexandre de Betak, “The Female Divine” now sits in the garden of the Rodin Museum, where it’s open to the public until Jan. 26. The irony isn’t lost on Chicago. Rodin is known as much for his virile sculptures as he is for his tumultuous relationship with his pupil and mistress Camille Claudel, who eventually succumbed to mental illness. Chicago described entering the museum on Sunday, after spending most of the day working in her womb-like tent: “Even though, of course, I know Rodin’s work, I was acutely aware of how masculinist it is. And then I thought, ‘Fine: masculine there and feminine here — perfect!’ If the world was like this, it would be a lot better,” she

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