Themis

Nancy Speros Themis from 1979 is a complex collage and print that combines cut and pasted papers, brush and black ink, metallic paints, and scraping over traces of graphite on pieced paper, creating an image of the Greek goddess of justice and divine law that exemplifies the artists strategy of reclaiming female figures from patriarchal mythology and representing them with the authority and complexity that has been denied them by Western art. Themis, the Titaness of divine law and order who was the oracle at Delphi before Apollo, represents the principle of natural law that precedes and transcends human legislation, making her an apt figure for Speros project of establishing a visual language of female authority that is independent of patriarchal representation. The complex layering of collage, printing, metallic paints, and scraping creates a surface that combines the urgency of political broadsheets with the refinement of religious icons, creating an image that is simultaneously a protest and a devotion. The pieced paper format, in which multiple sheets are combined to create a single composition, allows Spero to extend her image horizontally like a scroll, creating a narrative sequence that suggests the continuous presence of female authority throughout history. The year 1979 places this work in the period when Spero was developing the combination of hand printing and collage that would become her primary medium, and the metallic paints that highlight Themis figure give the goddess the radiance of a Byzantine icon, connecting the ancient to the contemporary.

Speros Themis is a key work in the history of feminist art, demonstrating her strategy of reclaiming mythological female figures and representing them with the authority that patriarchal culture has denied. The combination of collage, printing, and metallic paint influenced the development of feminist mixed-media art and the broader tradition of reclaiming mythological imagery for feminist purposes.

A 1979 collage and print by Spero depicting Themis, the Greek goddess of divine law, combining cut papers, hand printing, and metallic paints in a layered surface that reclaims mythological female authority from patriarchal representation with the radiance of a Byzantine icon.