Season Four Art 21 - PBS

In this episode called Protest, Nancy Spero and other artists discuss their work that has to do with social commentary, railing against the world.

For decades, Nancy Spero has drawn from the political to create compelling works of art that make a statement against war, the abuse of power and our male-dominated society. Regarding her paintings made during the Vietnam War, Spero says: “I guess maybe my art can be said to be a protest…The War paintings are certainly a protest because it was done with indignation.” Spero further explains how the politically-inspired work of her late husband, Leon Golub, not only stimulated, but also posed a challenge for her own work. “It was pretty damned difficult contending with someone who was so…brilliant,” she says. Viewers observe Spero as she creates a new work for the Venice Biennale.
VIDEO: Lincoln Center Subway
VIDEO: Leon Golub - he was her husband/partner for 51 years
VIDEO: “Maypole”
VIDEO: “The War Series” Her primary subject matter is the helicopter from the Vietnam war.
I will probably purchase the video for this series as I am very interested in those artists who create art that protests the inhuman treatment of human beings through war, violence, abuse of any kind, slavery, cruelty.

I also like Nancy Spero for her bright and beautiful examples of art that celebrate women.

"I have deliberately attempted to distance my art from the Western emphasis on the subjective portrayal of individuality by using a hand-printing and collage technique utilizing zinc plates as an artist's tool instead of a brush or palette knife. Figures derived from various cultures co-exist in simultaneous time... The figures themselves could become hieroglyphs--extensions of a text denoting rites of passage, birth to old age, motion and gesture...Woman as activator or protagonist dancing in procession, elegiac or celebrator a continuous presence, engaged directly or glimpsed peripherally; the eye, as a moving camera, scans the re-imaging of women."

Reprinted: Courtesy Nancy Spero from an unpublished 1989 statement by the artist entitled "The Continuous Presence."

Books that talk about the work of Nancy Spero as as follows:

A Concise History of American Painting and Sculpture. Harper & Row. New York, New York, 1984.
Felshin, Nina. Disarming Images: Art for Nuclear Disarmament. Adama Books. New York, New York, 1984.
Nancy Spero: Rebirth of Venus. Art Random. Kyoto, Japan, 1989.
Nancy Spero. Phaidon Press Limited. London, United Kingdom, 1996.
Archer, Michael. Art Since 1960. Thames and Hudson. 1997.
Upstarts and Matriarchs: Jewish Women Artists and the Transformation of American Art. Singer Gallery. Denver, Colorado. 2005.
Pressplay: Contemporary Artists in Conversation. Phaidon. London, United Kingdom. 2005.
Reclaiming the Body Feminist Art in America. Michael Blackwood Productions. New York, New York. 2006.
Roth, Moira and Ashley Bellouin. Reflections, Investigations & Suggestions About Women Artists & Feminist Art History in the Year 2007. Mills College. Oakland, California. 2007.

Artist Reviews
Zucker, Barbara. "New York Reviews," ARTnews, November, 1976, p.143.
"Review," Art In America, September, 1981.
Larson, Kay. "Review," New York Magazine, November 7, 1983, p.86.
"Exhibition Statement," University of New Mexico Art Museum, 1983.
"Nancy Spero: Barbara Gladstone, Josh Baer," ARTnews, May, 1988, p.162.
"Nancy Spero: Everson Museum of Art," Artforum, May, 1988, pp.152-3.
Hague, Libby. "Review: Nancy Spero Works Since 1950," The Power Plant, January 20-February 26, 1989.
Kondel, Susan. "Review," Arts Magazine, October, 1989, p.108.
"Nancy Spero," S.L. Simpson Gallery, Newsletter of the Print and Drawing Council of Canada, No. 2. March/April, 1989, 15-20, 2.
Withers, R. L. "Nancy Spero," Women Artists Slide Library Journal (London, England), 35. July/August, 1990, pp. 23-24.
Babias, Marius. "Nancy Spero," Kunstforum, Berlin/Bonn, West Germany, June/July, 1990, p.296.
Burton, Johanna. "Nancy Spero: Galerie Lelong - New York," Artforum, February, 2004.
Richard, Frances. "Nancy Spero - Galerie Lelong," Artforum, February, 2006, pp. 208-9.
Cotter, Holland. "The Art of Feminism as It First Took Shape," The New York Times, March 9, 2007.
MacAdam, Barbara A. "Rooms with a View," Artnews, vol. 106, no. 8, September, 2007.
Churner, Rachel. "Nancy Spero," Artforum.com, May 1, 2008.
Smith, Roberta. "Collage: The Unmonumental Picture," New York Times, February 1, 2008.

NY City Subway Mosaics

Below is a link for Nancy Spero's 2004 subway mosaics entitled "Artemis, Acrobats, Divas and Dancers" installed in the 66th Street/Lincoln Center Subway walls. They are made of glass mosaic tiles that depict theater-dance-orchestra related scenes on the walls for theater goes at Lincoln Center to enjoy. What I like about Spero is her art historical influence from antiquity. One recognizes Egyptian dancers frolicking beside Hellenistic and Egyptian acrobats and other entertaining women. Her abstraction of the female forms in a colorful Fauve expression enlivens and contemporizes her heroines and divas.

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/artwork_show?6 The Collection is MTA Arts for Transit.