Untitled, (Il renonce au coit...)

Spero received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1949, and along with her husband, Leon Golub, she became associated with the Monster Roster group. A pioneering feminist in her work and actions, she was dedicated to making unapologetic statements against male privilege and the abuse of power while elevating the image of women. Spero often combined text with images, as seen in her series Codex Artaud, of which this drawing is a part. As in other works in the series, here Spero borrowed from the writings of the mentally ill French poet Antonin Artaud, inscribing at the bottom of the drawing, “What a sweet thing coitus. Artaud.”