Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1926, Nancy Spero was raised in Chicago. She studied at the Art Institute of Chicago (BFA 1949) and in Paris (1949–50). After itinerating with her husband Leon Golub for some years in the US and Europe, they settled in New York City in 1964, where Spero immediately became involved in the Vietnam antiwar movement. In the 1970s, she participated in the women’s liberation movement, struggling against the underrepresentation of women artists. During that time, her artistic work mainly addressed the oppression of women in the past and present. In the 1980s and ’90s, however, Spero focused on women as protagonists. Spero died in New York City in 2009.