American artist Judy Chicago is the author of illycaffè's new illy Art Collection

The collection will be previewed at the international contemporary art fair Frieze New York

Trieste, May 17th, 2023 – illycaffè presents the new illy Art Collection by Judy Chicago, the multifaceted American artist and pioneer of the Feminist Art Movement.

Judy Chicago is known for her large installations such as The Dinner Party and Birth Project celebrating the multiple roles of women in history and culture. The world-renowned artist began to examine the role of gender in the 1970s, integrating stereotypically feminine skills such as sewing or embroidery with strictly masculine skills such as welding and pyrotechnics. Her research embraces painting, textile arts, sculpture, and installations.

With this illy Art Collection, the iconic espresso cups that more than 30 years ago have turned an everyday object into a blank canvas featuring the work of internationally acclaimed artists, Judy Chicago represents women’s roles and achievements throughout history, by using the concept from her early works "Reincarnation Triptych".

In the four cups inspired by the ‘Reincarnation Triptych’ the artist uses a lively and vibrant palate to illustrate the transition away from the societal constraints that have historically been imposed on women to a place of cultural and creative freedom. Each cup, through its creativity, represents a notable woman from history from distinct time periods:  the Queen of France, Maria Antonietta; the novelist, philosopher, and political writer Madame de Stael; feminist novelist, George Sand; and writer, Virginia Woolf.

“Through illy Art Collection we let artists' creativity express itself freely. The collection signed by Judy Chicago goes beyond beauty. The shapes and colors with which she dressed the illy cup contain a deeper meaning linked to the condition of women throughout history and their continued struggles today, where there is always a need to bring out merit by giving everyone the same opportunities to demonstrate their value” - commented Cristina Scocchia, CEO of illycaffè.

“I was interested in collaborating with Illy on this project because translating my work into accessible products allows more people to learn about the paintings on which the images are based. I hope these cups spark curiosity and conversation about my career and that the people who buy them learn more about women’s history in the process” Judy Chicago said.

The illy Art Collection signed by Judy Chicago will be previewed at the international contemporary art fair Frieze New York that will take place on May 17th, 2023.

The illy Art Collection will be available starting from July in the illy e-shop, illy stores (illy Caffè and illy Shop), major retail outlets, and indirect e-commerce channels.

4 espresso cups at a suggested retail price of € 94,00
4 cappuccino cups at the suggested retail price of € 114,00


Judy Chicago
Judy Chicago is one of the most influential artists of our century. Over the course of her six-decade career, social and environmental justice have been the driving force behind some of her most important projects as she continues to fight for equality in the art world for women and other marginalized artists and the protection of all living creatures. Over the years, male curators, and critics, who favored artwork created in the vein of the male-centered art historical canon, often overlooked her work. Rather than backing down, Chicago took on the challenge of changing these attitudes in the art world through the founding of the first Feminist Art Program at Fresno State, CA; the creation of her epic work, The Dinner Party, which sought to counter the erasure of women’s history; and the development of a K-12 “Dinner Party" curriculum. In subsequent projects and bodies of work, she has addressed the prescient issues of birth and creation in the Birth Project, the construct of masculinity in PowerPlay, the horrors of genocide in the Holocaust Project, and most recently, the subject of mortality and its relation to the destruction of our planet in The End: A Meditation on Death and Extinction. Chicago took the fashion world by storm with her collaboration with Dior and its creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for the Spring 2020 haute couture show in Paris. Chicago’s career retrospective opened to rave reviews in August 2021 at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. In celebration of her retrospective, Chicago unveiled her largest atmosphere piece to date, Forever de Young, seen by more than 35,000 people worldwide. The author of fifteen books, Chicago wrote her definitive memoir, The Flowering, published in July 2021 by Thames & Hudson and cited as one of the best books of the year. The award-winning newsmagazine show CBS Sunday Morning recently profiled Chicago. Chicago will have a major exhibition, Judy Chicago: Herstory, at the New Museum in New York City in October 2023.

illy Art Collection
For illycaffè, whose distinctive values are Good, Goodness, Beauty, contemporary art adds beauty to taste. The beauty illycaffè strives to achieve is inspired by the ancient Greek concept of kalokagathìa, which combines kalòs (that which is beautiful) and agathòs (that which is good) to create a new meaning in which beauty and goodness become one, each depending on the other. The illy Art Collection cups are a tangible expression of this concept. This project was launched in 1992, and through it the company transformed an everyday object into a blank canvas by inviting contemporary artists to express their creativity on the coffee cup designed by Matteo Thun for illy. Over the years, this canvas has featured the work of over 125 internationally renowned artists, including Michelangelo Pistoletto, Marina Abramović, Anish Kapoor, William Kentridge, Robert Wilson, Ai Weiwei and others...