Sky Goddess II (Diptych)

Artist Nancy Spero (American, 1926-2009)

Date1986

DimensionsRight side of diptych (1988.79b): 110 3/8 x 20 1/4 in. (280.3 x 51.4 cm);
Left side of diptych (1988.79a): 110 1/8 x 20 1/4 in. (279.7 x 51.4 cm);
Width with both sides of diptych together: 40 3/4 in.;
Right side of diptych, vertical dimensions: 110 3/4 in. (281.3 cm); top width: 20 3/8 in. (51.8 cm);
Left side of diptych, vertical dimensions: 110 5/16 in. (280.1 cm); top width: 50 1/2 in. (52 cm)

MediumHandprinting and collage on paper

ClassificationPrints

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1988.79A-B

Not on View

Label Text…[R]ealizing further my status as a woman, I decided to make Woman the protagonist, to depict her as liberated, even if I know this isn’t really the case. Female figures from various cultures, including ancient Greek goddesses and sketch-like evocations of the long-limbed Egyptian sky goddess Nut stretched across the sky, stand as archetypes of womanhood in Cleveland-born artist Nancy Spero’s work. According to Spero, “The figures themselves 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.” A pioneer of feminist art, Spero began using a technique of handprinting and collage on paper in the 1970s, treating her repeated lexicon of female figures as if they were words and letters creating a narrative. She found this method freeing, as well as a way to rebel against more traditional materials like paint on canvas.