Sold for: $15,000

PROVENANCE
Collection of the Artist
Estate of the Artist

EXHIBITED
Galerie René Blouin, Montreal, Gris, July 7 - August 18, 2007
Galerie René Blouin, Montreal, Betty Goodwin, January 19 - February 23, 2008
Galerie René Blouin, Montreal, Betty Goodwin, January 3 - 17, 2009

Essay by Roger Bellemare (translated)

In 1968, Betty Goodwin made the bold decision to stop using paint, much to the benefit of her drawing, for which she had an outstanding talent.

The large drawings she made in 1981, like Half Passage, were widely shown and admired. The shapes in Half Passage are binary (open and closed), and exemplify the living paradox of an art that expresses both opposition and unity. The energized centre-left section of the two drawings reveals its transparent container; the angular form at the right opens onto opaque blackness. When brought together, the two sheets confirm Goodwin’s ultimate intuition of combining her two statements into a single whole. These shapes fascinated the artist, who included them (as corners and angles) in more specifically figurative scenes.

Le geste courageux de Goodwin d’abandonner la peinture dès 1968 honorait son talent de dessinateur (trice) émérite.

En 1981 apparurent de grands dessins, comme Demi Passage, largement diffusés et célébrés.

Binaires (béants et clos), ils témoignent du vivant paradoxe d’un art qui oppose en unifiant : le centre gauche activé du dessin révèle en transparence son contenant; simultanément à droite, la proposition angulaire ouvre sur une noirceur opaque. Les deux feuilles rapprochées confirment ensuite l’intuition finale de Goodwin d’unifier en une seule ses deux propositions.

Ces sujets fascinaient l’artiste qui les a introduits (comme coins et encoignures) dans des scènes plus spécifiquement figuratives.

We thank Roger Bellemare for contributing the above essay.

To view more information on Betty Goodwin, please click here.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars