{{Short description|Visual arts installation conceived by Ilise Greenstein}} {{italictitle}} '''''The Sister Chapel''''' (1974–1978) is a visual arts installation, conceived by Ilise Greenstein (1928–1985)<ref name=Hottle>{{cite book|last=Hottle|first=Andrew D.|title=The Art of the Sister Chapel: Exemplary Women, Visionary Creators, and Feminist Collaboration|location=Farnham, Surrey|publisher=Ashgate Publishing Limited|date=2014}}</ref> and created as a collaboration by thirteen women artists during the feminist art movement.<ref name=BroudeGarrard>{{cite book|editor1-last=Broude|editor1-first=Norma|editor1-link=Norma Broude |editor2-last=Garrard|editor2-first=Mary D.|editor2-link=Mary Garrard |title=The Power of Feminist Art: The American Movement of the 1970s, History and Impact|publisher=Harry N. Abrams, Inc.|location=New York|date=1994|pages=231–233}}</ref> Before its completion, the critic and curator Lawrence Alloway recognized its potential to be "a notable contribution to the long-awaited legible iconography of women in political terms."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Sleigh|first=Sylvia|title=Women Artists of the '70s: Lawrence Alloway at the Met|journal=Women Artists Newsletter|volume=2|number=1|date=April 1976|page=5}}</ref> ''The Sister Chapel'' is on permanent display at the Center for Art and Social Engagement, an initiative of the Rowan University Art Gallery in Glassboro, New Jersey.<ref name=RU-Center>{{cite web|title=The Center for Art and Social Engagement, Rowan University Art Gallery|url=https://sites.rowan.edu/artgallery/center-for-art/about.html|access-date=24 July 2019}}</ref>

==Origin and name== In 1973, the abstract painter Ilise Greenstein moved from Great Neck, New York, to Miami, Florida, where she experienced "frustration, anxiety and isolation" at being separated from the art scene in New York.<ref name=Langer>{{cite journal|last=Langer|first=Sandra L.|title=The Sister Chapel: Towards A Feminist Iconography with Commentary by Ilise Greenstein|journal=The Southern Art Quarterly: A Journal of the Arts in the South|volume=17|number=2|date=Winter 1979|pages=28–41}}</ref> This led to an "intense period of self-exploration" that resulted in the concept for ''The Sister Chapel''.<ref name=Langer/> Originally planned as a hall of fame for women, ''The Sister Chapel'' evolved from a written concept in early 1974 to become a celebration of female "role models" who were chosen by women and portrayed by women.<ref name=Hottle/>

The nominal pun regarding the Sistine Chapel ceiling was intentional.<ref name=Glueck>{{cite news|last=Glueck|first=Grace|title=Art People|newspaper=The New York Times|date= 5 November 1976}}</ref> As the Sistine Chapel represented an apex of global and western culture, and a realization of the patriarchal conceptualization of history, ''The Sister Chapel'' comprised an invitation for people to re-imagine familiar, often unconscious presumptions about gender roles, recognition and relations from a female perspective.<ref name=BroudeGarrard/> Greenstein explained that she was questioning the "version of creation" in the Sistine Chapel by asking, "where was woman in man's relation to God?"<ref name=Johnston>{{cite news|last=Johnston|first=Laurie|title=The 'Sister Chapel': A Feminist View of Creation|newspaper=The New York Times|date=30 January 1978|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/01/30/archives/the-sister-chapel-a-feminist-view-of-creation.html}}</ref> As Gloria Feman Orenstein explained in 1977, "This chapel, then, is not about the creation of man, but the birth of woman."<ref name=Orenstein>{{cite journal|last=Orenstein|first=Gloria Feman|title=The Sister Chapel—A Traveling Homage to Heroines|journal=Womanart|volume=1|number=3|date=Winter–Spring 1977|pages=12–21}}</ref>

==Component works of art== ''The Sister Chapel'' features eleven panels that represent contemporary and historically significant women, deities and mythological figures, and conceptual heroic women.<ref name=Orenstein/> Each "role model" was selected and painted by a different artist, which allowed the participants to retain their individual styles:<ref name=Hottle/><ref name=Preston>{{cite news|last=Preston|first=Malcolm|title=A pantheon of women|newspaper=Newsday|date=6 December 1979}}</ref>

*''Bella Abzug—the Candidate'' (1976) by Alice Neel *''Betty Friedan as the Prophet'' (1976) by June Blum *''Marianne Moore'' (1977) by Betty Holliday *''Joan of Arc'' (1976) by Elsa M. Goldsmith *''Artemisia Gentileschi'' (1976) by May Stevens *''Frida Kahlo'' (1976) by Shirley Gorelick *''God'' (1977) by Cynthia Mailman *''Durga'' (1977) by Diana Kurz *''Lilith'' (1976) by Sylvia Sleigh *''Womanhero'' (1977) by Martha Edelheit *''Self-Portrait as Superwoman (Woman as Culture Hero)'' (1977–78) by Sharon Wybrants

Each of the monumental figures occupies a nine-by-five-foot canvas, arranged in a circle, into which viewers are invited to enter.<ref name=Orenstein/> Above the eleven panels hangs the circular abstract painted ceiling by Ilise Greenstein (1976).<ref name=Hottle/> Its mirrored center invites viewers to see themselves in the company of the heroic figures of this "sisters universe," and to develop a new way of looking at history, culture, and themselves.<ref name=Langer/>

A tent-like fabric enclosure, designed by Maureen Connor in 1976, was meant to create an intimate space approximately 25 feet in diameter.<ref name=Orenstein/> For financial reasons, the structure was not executed in the 1970s but a model was constructed and shown at the premiere exhibition.<ref name=Hottle/>

==Exhibitions== The installation premiered in January 1978 at P.S.1 in Long Island City, New York.<ref name=Hottle/> It was positively reviewed in ''The New York Times''<ref name=Johnston/> and ''Newsday''<ref>{{cite news|last=Wallach|first=Amei|title=Women, God, and the world—the Sister Chapel's trinity|newspaper=Newsday|date=29 January 1978}}</ref>

After its premiere at P.S.1, ''The Sister Chapel'' was exhibited at SUNY–Stony Brook (November–December 1978), Cayuga County Community College (November–December 1979), and the Associated Artists Gallery in Fayetteville, New York (March–April 1980).<ref name=Hottle/> At the last two venues, Greenstein's ''Ceiling for the Sister Chapel'', Wybrants's ''Self-Portrait as Superwoman'', and Connor's model for the Chapel structure were not exhibited.<ref name=Hottle/> After 1980, ''The Sister Chapel'' fell into obscurity,<ref name=Frank>{{cite web|last=Frank|first=Priscilla|title=God Is A Woman In Previously Forgotten Feminist Exhibit 'The Sister Chapel'|website=Huffington Post|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/god-is-a-woman-in-previously-forgotten-feminist-exhibit-the-sister-chapel_us_56fc0136e4b083f5c6065196|access-date=17 March 2018}}</ref> although it continued to be mentioned in publications about women artists.<ref name=BroudeGarrard/><ref>{{cite book|last=Rubinstein|first=Charlotte Streifer|title=American Women Artists: From Early Indian Times to the Present|url=https://archive.org/details/americanwomenart0000rubi|url-access=registration|publisher=G.K.Hall & Co.|location=Boston|date=1982|page=[https://archive.org/details/americanwomenart0000rubi/page/377 377]-378}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1-last=Collins|author1-first=Georgia C.|author2-last=Sandell|author2-first=Renee|title=Women, Art, and Education|location=Reston, VA|publisher=National Art Education Association|year=1984|page=44}}</ref>

''The Sister Chapel'' was eventually revived by Andrew Hottle, a professor of art history at Rowan University, whose research for a book about the installation led him to reunite the component works.<ref name=Frank/><ref name=Melamed/><ref name=Shellenberger>{{cite news|last=Shellenberger|first=Shen|title=An Essential Feminist Collaboration On View at Rowan University Art Gallery|website=Jersey Arts|date=2 May 2016|url=https://jerseyartsfeatures.com/content/index.php/nj-visual-arts/2016/05/an-essential-feminist-collaboration-on-view-at-rowan-university-art-gallery|access-date=31 July 2019}}</ref><ref name=Cascone>{{cite news|last=Cascone|first=Sarah|title=Major Feminist Art Installation 'The Sister Chapel' Resurrected After 37 Years|website=Artnet|date=26 March 2016|url=https://news.artnet.com/exhibitions/sister-chapel-feminist-art-installation-443120|access-date=31 July 2019}}</ref> In 2016, for the first time in 37 years, ''The Sister Chapel'' was exhibited in its entirety at the Rowan University Art Gallery in Glassboro, New Jersey.<ref name=Cascone/><ref name=RUArt>{{cite web|title=Past Exhibitions, Rowan University Art Gallery|url=https://sites.rowan.edu/artgallery/past-exhibitions/index.html|access-date=24 July 2019}}</ref> The new exhibition included Sharon Wybrants's recreation of her ''Self-Portrait as Superwoman'' because the original is lost.<ref name=Melamed>{{cite news|last1=Melamed|first1=Samantha|title=After 35 years, lost feminist art back on display|url=http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/arts/20160330_After_35_years__lost_feminist_art_back_on_display.html|access-date=1 April 2016|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date=March 30, 2016}}</ref> This was the first installation of ''The Sister Chapel'' to present the works inside the fabric enclosure designed by Maureen Connor.<ref name=Melamed/> In ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', the art critic Edith Newhall wrote that "Hottle has produced something of an art-world miracle" by finding and reuniting the paintings.<ref name=Newhall>{{cite news|last=Newhall|first=Edith|title=Gallery shows: The Sister Chapel at Rowan; 'Brick Moon' at Fjord|website=Philadelphia Inquirer|date=29 May 2016|url=https://www.inquirer.com/philly/entertainment/20160529_Gallery_shows__The_Sister_Chapel_at_Rowan___Brick_Moon__at_Fjord.html|access-date=31 July 2019}}</ref>

In March 2019, the installation went on permanent display in the Center for Art and Social Engagement at Rowan University.<ref name=RU-Center/>

==Recognition== When ''The Sister Chapel'' was reunited in 2016, its historical importance was recognized by ''The Huffington Post'',<ref name=Frank/> ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'',<ref name=Melamed/><ref name=Newhall/> and Artnet.<ref name=Cascone/> ''The Sister Chapel'' was also featured in a segment of ''State of the Arts'', a locally produced program on NJTV (now NJ PBS).<ref name=NJTV>{{cite episode|last1=Wallner|first1=Susan|date=23 April 2016|title=The Sister Chapel|series=State of the Arts|network=NJ PBS}}</ref>

In March 2018, ''Travel + Leisure'' grouped ''The Sister Chapel'' with the Rothko Chapel, Matisse Chapel, Le Corbusier's Notre Dame du Haut, and other chapels that "combine artistry with worship."<ref>{{cite web|last=Binlot|first=Ann|title=These Beautiful Chapels Around the World Are Literal Works of Art|website=Travel + Leisure|url=https://www.travelandleisure.com/culture-design/visual-arts/art-chapels-around-the-world|date=22 March 2018|access-date=24 July 2019}}</ref>

''The Sister Chapel'' was featured in a fashion photography spread in the August 2019 issue of ''Harper's Bazaar'', serving as an environment for two pairs of sisters who wear Christian Dior clothing designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri; an interview with Chiuri by Robin Morgan accompanies the photographs.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=The Power of Sisterhood|magazine=Harper's Bazaar|date=August 2019|pages=146–151}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist|2}}

==External links== * [https://sites.rowan.edu/artgallery/exhibitions/sister-chapel.html Official website] * [http://watch.njtvonline.org/video/2365724546/ ''The Sister Chapel'' on NJ PBS, 23 April 2016] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDr0kvWoE7g Panel discussion with artists from ''The Sister Chapel'' at Rowan University, 31 March 2016]

{{Feminist art movement in the United States|state=collapsed}}

Category:1978 in art Category:Feminist art Category:Installation art works