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Betty Goodwin

Canadian, 1923 - 2008

BiographyBorn in Montreal, Betty Goodwin (1923-2008) is regarded as one of Canada's premier contemporary artists. The only child of Romanian Jewish immigrant parents, her early work included still life and figurative works, and scenes of life in Montreal's east side. For the first few years of the 1950s she worked in a social realist style, then progressed to depicting domestic environments in a proto-Cubist style. Over the course of her oeuvre, she became known for her distinctive figurative work that expressed the fragility and complexity of the human experience. Largely self-taught, she turned to painting in the late 1940s. In 1968, she enrolled in a printmaking course with Yves Gaucher at Sir George Williams (now Concordia University). It was there where she began working with found objects and clothing articles in her prints, which brought her much international attention. She arrived at the forefront of contemporary Canadian art in the 1970s with her "vest" series as well as her Tarpaulin series, created between 1972-74. Since then, she has earned further renown with her printmaking and has brought her unique form of innovative personal expression to numerous other media, including painting, drawing, sculpture and installations. She is represented in major collections in Canada and internationally and has received numerous honours and awards for her contributions, including the Prix Paul- Émile Borduas in 1986, the Gershon Iskowitz
Prize of the Gershon Iskowitz Foundation and the Art Gallery of Ontario in 1995; the Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award of the Canada Council for the Arts in 1981; the Harold Town Prize in 1998; John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in 1988. In 2003, she was honored with the Governor General's Award and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada

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