Betty Goodwin

Betty Roodish Goodwin, (March 19, 1923 – December 1, 2008) was a multidisciplinary Canadian artist who expressed the complexity of human experience through her work.

Early life Goodwin was born in Montreal, as the child of Romanian immigrants Clare Edith and Abraham Roodish. She enjoyed painting and drawing as a child, and was encouraged by her mother to pursue art. Goodwin's parents first settled in the United States, but when her father Abraham, who was a tailor, struggled to find work. They moved to Montreal, where Abraham established Rochester Vest Manufacturing Company Ltd. in 1928. Still, they struggled financially. When Goodwin was nine years old, her father suffered a heart attack and died. This traumatic experience impacted Goodwin throughout her life, and went on to influence her art. After graduating from high school, Goodwin studied design at Valentine's Commercial School of Art in Montreal. Goodwin revolutionized the medium of printmaking when, in 1968, she began putting pieces of clothing through a printing press. From this experiment, she developed innovative prints, including her iconic Vest series. From 1972 to 1974, she created a series of wall hangings entitled Tarpaulin, which she reworked to shape into sculptures and collages.

Over a period of six years beginning in 1982, Goodwin explored the human form in her drawing series Swimmers, a project which used graphite, oil pastels and charcoal on translucent Mylar. The large-scale drawings depict solitary floating or sinking bodies, suspended in space. In 1986, to show the interaction of human figures she created her series Carbon using charcoal and wax for her drawings. Two more series followed: La mémoire du corps (1990–1995) and Nerves (1993–1995). 1976 - Betty Goodwin 1969-76, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Quebec 1996 - Betty Goodwin: Signs of Life, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa 1998 - The Art of Betty Goodwin, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto 2002 - The Prints of Betty Goodwin, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

Group exhibitions the National Gallery of Canada, the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Honours Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award of the Canada Council for the Arts (1981) Banff Centre National Award for Visual Arts (1984) Prix Paul-Émile Borduas (1986) Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship (1988) Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts (2003) honorary doctorates from universities across Canada Betty Goodwin: Oeuvres De 1971 A 1987/Works from 1971 TO 1987. Yolande Racine. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1987. Organized and published by Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. 252 pp. (2 foldout) with 129 ills. (56 col.). 27 x 23 cm. Bilingual in French and English. Betty Goodwin: Parcours De L'oeuvre A Tracers La Collection Du Musee D'art Contemporain De Montreal (Betty Goodwin: Survey of the Oeuvre through the Collection of the Musee d'art contemporain, Montreal). Josee Belisle. Musee d'art contemporain, Montreal, 2009. 116 pp. with 54 col. ills. 25 x 20 cm. Bilingual in French and English (biographical notes and brief entries in French only). Betty Goodwin: Steel Notes. France Morin et al. Canadian Section, 20a. Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, 1989. Organized and published by National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Distributed by University of Toronto Press. 152 pp. with 55 ills. (29 col.). 25 x 20 cm. Trilingual in Portuguese, English and French. The Prints of Betty Goodwin. Rosemarie L. Tovell et al. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 2002. Published in association with Douglas & McIntyre, Vancouver. 248 pp. with 251 ills. (36 col.). 28 x 23 cm. LC 2002-483164 In English.