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.