Nancy Spero facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Nancy Spero
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Nancy Spero, in her New York Studio, 1973
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| Born | August 24, 1926 Cleveland, Ohio, US
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| Died | October 18, 2009 (aged 83) New York City, US
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| Education | School of the Art Institute of Chicago |
| Known for | Painting, Printmaking, Collage, Feminist art, Feminist art movement in the United States |
| Spouse(s) | Leon Golub |
Nancy Spero (born August 24, 1926 – died October 18, 2009) was an American artist. She created many different kinds of art. Spero lived most of her life in New York City. She was married to and worked with fellow artist Leon Golub.
Nancy Spero was an artist and an activist for fifty years. She was known for focusing on important political, social, and cultural issues. Her art showed the harsh realities of war and violence. But it also showed happy visions of new beginnings and life's joyful cycles.
Spero created a special way of showing women in her art. She used figures of women from ancient times to today. Some of her famous large-scale works include Torture of Women (1976), Notes in Time on Women (1979), and The First Language (1981). Her art has been shown in many major museums.
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Early Life and Art Training
Spero was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1926. A year later, her family moved to Chicago, where she grew up. After high school, she studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She graduated in 1949.
At the Art Institute, she met Leon Golub. He was a young soldier who had returned from World War II. Spero and Golub later showed their art together. They were part of a group called the Monster Roster.
After art school, Spero continued her studies in Paris, France. She learned painting at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts. She also studied with Andre Lhote, an early Cubist painter. In 1950, she returned to the United States and married Leon Golub. They settled in Chicago.
Living and Working in Europe
From 1956 to 1957, Spero and Golub lived in Italy. They worked on their art and raised their three sons. Both artists wanted to show the human form in a modern way. This was happening even as Abstract Expressionism became popular.
In Italy, Spero was interested in Etruscan and Roman frescoes. These were paintings on walls or ceilings. She also liked their sarcophagi, which were stone coffins. These ancient art forms influenced her later work.
Spero and her family moved to Paris from 1959 to 1964. She felt Europe had a more open art scene than New York at that time. Her third son was born in Paris. She also had important solo art shows there.
Later Years and Activism
Spero and Golub moved back to New York in 1964. The Vietnam War was happening, and the Civil Rights Movement was growing. These events deeply affected Spero. She saw images of war on TV every night. She also saw unrest and violence in the streets.
The War Series
Because of this, Spero started her War Series from 1966 to 1970. These were small, quick paintings and drawings. They showed the terrible nature and destruction of war. The War Series is a powerful group of artworks. It strongly speaks out against war and its lasting effects.
Art and Feminism
Spero was an activist and an early feminist. She joined groups like the Art Workers Coalition. She also helped start the first women's art gallery, A.I.R. Gallery, in SoHo.
During this time, Spero created her "Artaud Paintings" (1969–70). She found her unique artistic voice. She started making her famous "scroll paintings." One example is the Codex Artaud (1971–1972). In these, she used words from the writer Antonin Artaud.
Spero printed text and images on long rolls of paper. She glued them together and put them on the walls of the A.I.R. Gallery. This was a new way to show art. It was different from traditional framed paintings. Her scrolls were huge in size and meaning. Yet, they felt personal and direct. They showed how shocking political events connect to old myths.
In 1974, Spero decided to focus on women in her art. She explored how women are shown in different cultures. Her work Torture in Chile (1974) and the long scroll Torture of Women (1976) are examples. These works combined real stories with images of women through history. They connected current government violence in Latin America to the historical mistreatment of women. Spero brought attention to women's stories that were often hidden.
Spero wanted women to be a big part of the art world. Her art often showed difficult subjects. These included crimes and attacks against women from all times and cultures. She used these topics to create strong and emotional images and text. Political violence, sexism, and dangerous situations for women were themes she explored. She believed that "the personal and the political are indistinguishable."
Developing a New Art Language
Spero created a special language using body movements and gestures. It was like a "body hieroglyphics." She used this to show many different ways women have been seen. This ranged from ancient times to the present.
From 1976 to 1979, she worked on Notes in Time on Women. This was a very long paper scroll. She continued this idea in The First Language (1979–81). In this work, she used only painted, hand-printed, and collaged figures. She did not use text. This created her "cast of characters."
By 1987, Spero was recognized internationally as a leading artist. She was known for her figurative and feminist art. She started making wall installations in 1988. For these, she moved her printed images directly onto museum walls and public spaces. This made her art interact with the building itself.
Spero's wall paintings can be seen in cities like Chicago, Vienna, and Toronto. They show women from ancient to modern times in a poetic way. They highlight the experiences of women.
Nancy Spero once said about her art: "I've always sought to express a tension in form and meaning in order to achieve a veracity. I have come to the conclusion that the art world has to join us, women artists, not we join it. When women are in leadership roles and gain rewards and recognition, then perhaps 'we' (women and men) can all work together in art world actions."
Nancy Spero passed away on October 18, 2009, in Manhattan. She is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.
She was interviewed for the 2010 film !Women Art Revolution.
Exhibitions
Nancy Spero's works have been shown in many important exhibitions around the world. Here are a few examples:
- 2018: Scenes from the Collection at The Jewish Museum, New York, United States.
- 2017: Maypole: Take No Prisoners at Galerie Lelong, New York, United States.
- 2016: Monster Roster: Existentialist Art in Postwar Chicago at The University of Chicago, Chicago, United States.
- 2015: Painting 2.0: Expression in the Information Age at Museum Brandhorst, Munich, Germany.
- 2014: Nancy Spero, The Body at International Centre of Graphic Arts (MGLC), Ljubljana, Slovenia.
- 2013: Nancy Spero: Cri du Coeur at Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States.
- 2012: The Female Gaze: Women Artists Making Their World at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
- 2011: Nancy Spero at Serpentine Gallery, London, United Kingdom.
- 2010: Nancy Spero at Musée National d´Art Moderne, Paris, France.
- 2009: Nancy Spero, Woman as Protagonist at Museum der Moderne Salzburg Mönchsberg, Salzburg, Austria.
- 2008: Nancy Spero. Dissidances at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain.
- 2000: The Museum of Modern Art, New York, United States.
- 1998: Tate Gallery, London, United Kingdom.
- 1992: Museum of Modern Art, New York, United States.
Awards and Honors
Nancy Spero received many awards for her art:
- 2006: She became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
- 2005: She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the College Art Association.
- 2003: She received an Honor Award from the Women's Caucus for Art.
- 1995: She and Leon Golub received the Hiroshima Art Prize. This was from the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art.
- 1995: She received the Skowhegan Medal from the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.
Media Appearances
Nancy Spero appeared as herself in these films:
- Nancy Spero: Becoming an Artist, 2008
- !Women Art Revolution, 2010
- Nancy Spero: Collaboration, 2012
- Nancy Spero: Paper Mirror, 2019
See also
In Spanish: Nancy Spero para niños
- Chicago Imagists
- Feminist art movement in the United States
Sources
- Arkesteijn, Roel, Codex Spero. Nancy Spero Selected Writing and Interviews 1950-2008. Roma Publications, 2008. ISBN: 978-90-77459-28-7
- Bird, Jon, Jo Anna Isaak, and Sylvere Lotringer, Nancy Spero (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1996)
- Lyon, Christopher, Nancy Spero: The Work (Munich and New York: Prestel, 2010) ISBN: 978-3-7913-4416-4
- PBS, Biography, interviews, essays, artwork images and video clips from PBS series Art:21 -- Art in the Twenty-First Century - Season 4 (2007)
