Elizabeth Blackwell at The Dinner Party

Background:

  • In 1849, Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States. She opened the field for other women while founding important medical institutions such as the New York Infirmary for Women and Children in 1857, and the National Health Society in 1871.
  • In January 1849, Blackwell graduated first in her class, after which the college closed its doors to women.
  • Blackwell became an advocate and lecturer for the benefits of preventative medicine and physical hygiene. 
  • She urged other women to pursue medical careers and pushed to make medical education available to more women.
  • Her main concerns were—improving access to medical care and providing a place for women to work in the medical field
Elizabeth Blackwell at The Dinner Party
  • Elizabeth Blackwell’s place setting is a metaphor for both her triumphs and her difficulties in the field of medicine. 
  • The plate is comprised of twisting, brightly colored "winglike" forms that swirl toward a central “black well,” a visual pun on the doctor’s name. It can be an interpretation of the dark times she and many other women had come out of.
  • The curling color's of the bands lifting off and growing represent the rising opportunities for women due to Blackwell's efforts.
  • "an abstract butterfly shape"- representing women's freedom, a celebration of Blackwell's achievements in medicine.
  • The swirling motion depicted in the plate and runner also symbolizes the shift in thinking that allowed for more opportunities for women. 
  • The technique used to create the runner’s form, reversed appliqué, or the cutting away of layers of fabric, is also a metaphor for the “obstacles faced by women wishing to break into various professions” (Chicago, The Dinner Party, 131).

The illuminated letter “E” on the front of the runner is embroidered as a stethoscope, a medical symbol referencing Elizabeth Blackwell as the first female doctor in the U.S.

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