Nancy Spero, "Thou Shalt Not Kill" (The Sixth Commandment) 1987

Nancy Spero

Thou Shalt Not Kill, 1987

9 Color lithograph and letterpress on Dieu Donne handmade paper.

Hand Signed and numbered. Unframed

From the 10 Commandments Portfolio

This nine color lithograph and letterpress on Dieu Donne handmade paper is signed, dated and numbered from the limited edition of 84.  This rare Nancy Spero print was created as part of the 1987 portfolio "The Ten Commandments", in which ten top Jewish American artists were each invited to choose an Old Testament commandment to interpret in contemporary lithographic form. The "Chosen" artists were, in order of Commandment: Kenny Scharf, Joseph Nechvatal, Gretchen Bender, April Gornik, Robert Kushner, Nancy Spero, Vito Acconci, Jane Dickson, Judy Rifka and Richard Bosman. This lithograph is in excellent condition; unframed. This is the first time it will have been removed from the original portfolio case. (shown). Lisa Liebmann, who wrote the introduction to the collection, observed:  "...The image has, for most of us, replaced the word..."  With respect to the present work she writes, "When it comes to the SIXTH COMMANDMENT, Nancy Spero can be considered a fundamentalist. "Though Shalt Not Kill" could serve as the title for almost all of her work, for almost all of those figures, usually heathen, running across scrolls against aggression. This commandment is fitfully stamped here, in the cadence of machine-gun fire and the bold type of tabloid headlines, under the impression of a woman running with a child in her arms. Spero's image and its meaning are without irony or ambivalence. They are not, however, devoid of ambiguity, for the figure - based on a photograph of a Vietnamese woman fleeing attack - is not the image of a victim, but of a warrior performing a warrior's dance, an unarmed hawk against violence..."

Excellent original condition. Unframed with deckled edges.

SIGNATURE

Signed and numbered from the limited edition of 84 in graphite 

PROVENANCE

Housed in the original Ten Commandments Portfolio, 1987, Art Issue Editions, Inc.