Judith Godwin (February 5, 1930 – May 29, 2021) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

abstract painter, associated with the

Abstract Expressionist Abstract expressionism in the United States emerged as a distinct art movement in the aftermath of World War II and gained mainstream acceptance in the 1950s, a shift from the American social realism of the 1930s influenced by the Great Depressi ...

movement.

Early life and education

Judith Godwin was born in

Suffolk, Virginia Suffolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. As of 2020, the population was 94,324. It is the List of cities in Virginia, 10th-most populous city in Virginia, the largest city in Virginia by bou ...

, in 1930 to a father who was interested in architecture and landscape gardening. His interests created an environment that inspired and encouraged Judith to pursue painting.Godwin, Judith. VMFA Virginia Artist File. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA.Marter, Joan, Catalog- Judith Godwin: Color and Movement, Rutgers University Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series, Mabel Smith Douglass Library, 2001. She attended Mary Baldwin College in 1948 for two years. It was there that she met

Martha Graham Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer, teacher and choreographer, whose style, the Graham technique, reshaped the dance world and is still taught in academies worldwide. Graham danced and taught for over s ...

, who performed there in 1950. Godwin transferred to Richmond Professional Institute (RPI), now

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a Public university, public research university in Richmond, Virginia, United States. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virgin ...

, where she completed her degree in 1952. While there, she studied with Maurice Bond, Jewett Campbell, and

Theresa Pollak Theresa Pollak (August 13, 1899 – September 18, 2002) was an American artist and art educator born in Richmond, Virginia. She was a nationally known painter, and she is largely credited with the founding of Virginia Commonwealth University's ...

. At the time, women were required to wear a skirt in the cafeteria; Godwin wore jeans after rushing from a studio class and was reported to the dean of the school, Margaret Johnson, who then met with her and changed the rule to allow women to wear jeans. While at RPI, she was in classes and close friends with Richard Carlyon. She also attended the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

, where she studied with artists

Will Barnet Will Barnet (May 25, 1911November 13, 2012) was an American visual artist and teacher, known for his paintings, watercolors, drawings, and prints depicting the human figure and animals, both in casual scenes of daily life and in transcendent d ...

Harry Sternberg Harry Sternberg (1904–2001), was an American Painting, painter, printmaking, printmaker and educator. He taught at the Art Students League of New York, from 1933 to c. 1966. Biography Childhood, family life, and education Sternberg's parents h ...

, and Vaclav Vytlacil. During this time she also attended the

Hans Hofmann Hans Hofmann (March 21, 1880 – February 17, 1966) was a German-born American painter, renowned as both an artist and teacher. His career spanned two generations and two continents, and is considered to have both preceded and influenced Abstrac ...

School of Fine Arts, and met artists such as

Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter. A major figure in the abstract expressionist movement, Pollock was widely noticed for his "Drip painting, drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household ...

Franz Kline Franz Kline (May 23, 1910 – May 13, 1962) was an American painter. He is associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement of the 1940s and 1950s. Kline, along with other action painters like Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Robert Mo ...

Willem de Kooning Willem de Kooning ( , ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. Born in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, he moved to the United States in 1926, becoming a US citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married pa ...

, and

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, ; ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, Futurism and conceptual art. He is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Pica ...

. She lived in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

, Manhattan, but as a native Virginian, remained a member of the

Jamestowne Society Jamestowne Society is an organization founded in 1936 by George Craghead Gregory for descendants of stockholders in the Virginia Company of London and the descendants of those who owned land or who had domiciles in Jamestown or on Jamestown Isl ...

. Her papers are held at the

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...

Career

Godwin's first solo exhibition was in 1950 at Mountcastle's in Suffolk, Virginia. At the suggestion of her RPI college instructor

Jewett Campbell Jewett Campbell (né Benjamin Jewitt Campbell; 1912–1999) was an American painter, and teacher, from Richmond, Virginia. He taught painting and printmaking for 40 years at the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU, formerly known as Richmond ...

,Robert Merritt (5/28/81). "Artist Maintains Suffolk Ties" ''Richmond Times-Dispatch''. she moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1953 to attend the

Art Students League The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

and study under

, who influenced her work heavily. She studied with Hofmann in his studio on 8th Street, and noted his wife Miz as another important influence. Godwin said that... "I think the main thing with Hofmann was that I felt completely free to do whatever I wanted to do." Godwin's notable classmates during this era included

, and Vaclav Vytlacil. Godwin credited Hofmann with making her feel at home after moving to New York, as well as with challenging her conservative color palette and technique. Hofmann also helped Godwin move away from the influence of

cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

and towards

abstract expressionism Abstract expressionism in the United States emerged as a distinct art movement in the aftermath of World War II and gained mainstream acceptance in the 1950s, a shift from the American social realism of the 1930s influenced by the Great Depressi ...

. In 1958, James Brooks invited her to participate in the Stable Gallery Invitational Show. In the late 1950s, through Kenzo Okada, she met and was invited by

Betty Parsons Betty Parsons (born Betty Bierne Pierson, January 31, 1900 – July 23, 1982) was an American artist, art dealer, and collector known for her early promotion of Abstract Expressionism. She is regarded as one of the most influential and dynamic f ...

to join her new gallery, Section Eleven, becoming the youngest woman to ever show her work there. At Betty Parsons' show, Godwin met the director for the

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue between 88th and 89th Street (Manhattan), 89th Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It hosts a permanent coll ...

James Johnson Sweeney James Johnson Sweeney (1900–1986) was an American curator and writer about modern art. Sweeney graduated from Georgetown University in 1922. From 1935 to 1946, he was curator for the Museum of Modern Art. He was the second director of the Solo ...

. He was interested in Godwin, and asked her to send a small collection of her work. He received ''Abstraction 1954'' and ''Abstraction #15.'' He enjoyed her work, although at the time he did not add them to the Guggenheim Collection. She shared a studio with

. She also met other prominent male artists such as Mark Rothko and Marcel Duchamp. Her success in mid-century Abstract Expressionism is notable, as there were few women celebrated among a movement associated with well-known male artists such as

and

.Patrick McCracken. "Judith Godwin" Amarillo Museum of Art, 1995–1996. In a 1981 interview, Godwin stated: "when I first went to New York in the early 1950s, there were just a few thousand painters living there... now there are tens of thousands so many people trying to gain notice, its unbelievable how competitive it is...." She credits her professor, Jewett Campbell, with her desire to move to New York City. In the 1980s she maintained three studios, one in a barn in Connecticut, one in Greenwich Village in New York City, and one in Suffolk, Virginia. In 1999 Godwin was a panelist for "Hans Hofmann as Artist and Teacher" symposium at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Style

Godwin was considered a second-generation abstract expressionist. She practiced a style of painting that emphasized interpretation of experience and emotion through improvisational construction of the work, combining the language of color with gestural movements. Her work was influenced by environmental causes, gardening, modern dance, and

Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

. Her passion for the environment was a recurring element in her canvases, although these landscape elements refer to the artist's inner terrain, which often echo the disturbances of external nature. Her early influences arose out of her childhood and having assisted her father with gardening. Soon after moving to New York City, she became friends with

through an earlier connection made while still a student at Mary Baldwin College. Graham's performances influenced Godwin, who often incorporated the dancer and choreographer's dynamic gestures into the composition of a painting. Speaking of one such piece, her 9-foot wide diptych ''The Ring'', Godwin said, "I most often begin to paint by envisioning form and space in nature and then interpret my ideas and feelings into planes of color on the canvas. When I recognize an emerging form, I respond intuitively by evolving complementary sub-forms in colors and applications which feel supportive and foster development. In studying color and its behavior, I have learned to trust my intuition." Another of her paintings is titled ''Ode to Martha Graham''. Early in her career Godwin employed a strong, aggressive style in order to silence the male critics who dismissed women's contributions to the art world at that time. Over the course of her career her color palette evolved, first softening and later becoming bright again. In the 1990s, Godwin began incorporating subtle assemblage to her canvases. Of this later direction she said, "I think it came out of needing to add something to the surfaces of my paintings...I don't want them to jump out." In a statement made for "Celebration of Women in the Arts," at

Northern Michigan University Northern Michigan University (Northern Michigan, Northern or NMU) is a public university in Marquette, Michigan, United States. It was established in 1899 by the Michigan Legislature as Northern State Normal School. In 1963, the state designa ...

in 1978, Godwin said ..."The act of painting is for me, as a woman, an act of freedom, and a realization that images generated by the female experience can be a powerful and creative expression for all humanity. My paintings are personal statements - extensions of myself. I take a truth, an intimate emotion, a question, an answer – and paint it. It is natural for me to mediate upon reality rather than on the romantic, and yet my work often results in a mixture of both"

Awards and honors

1989 Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA Professional Achievement Alumni Award from the School of the Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 2002 Career achievement award from Mary Baldwin College, Staunton, VA Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from Mary Baldwin College, Staunton, VA

Personal life

Her family home in Suffolk was called "Whitehall" and her ancestry goes back to the first settlers in the Virginia Colony. Godwin's mother was Judith Brewer Godwin who was associated with the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities and a one-time president of the Garden Club of Virginia. Godwin's father was Frank Whitney Godwin, a dentist and decorated veteran of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

who later became a national vice commander of the

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is an Voluntary association, organization of United States, U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It comprises U.S. state, state, Territories of the United States, U.S. terr ...

, and was additionally an amateur architect. Judith Godwin was a cousin of Virginia Governor Mills E. Godwin, Jr. During the 1950s she embraced the Zen idea, living with few objects in a modest apartment in

. During the 1950s and 1960s she took on jobs restoring houses and working as an apprentice to a plasterer and mason, as well as some interior design work and fabric design. In 1963 Godwin purchased a brownstone in Greenwich Village previously owned by Franz Kline. During the 1980s she picketed against an annual furriers convention in New York.

Collections

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

, Washington, D.C. *

Chicago Art Institute The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park. Its collection, stewarded by 11 curatoria ...

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed ...

Utah Museum of Fine Arts The Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) is a state and university art museum located in downtown Salt Lake City on the University of Utah campus. Housed in the Marcia and John Price Museum Building near Rice-Eccles Stadium, the museum holds a permane ...

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is an art museum in New Haven, Connecticut. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University. Although it embraces all cultures and period ...

* Milwaukee Art Center * National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan *

National Museum of Wales National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

, Cardiff, South Wales *

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openi ...

, Washington, DC *

North Carolina Museum of Art The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) is an art museum in Raleigh, North Carolina. It opened in 1956 as the first major museum collection in the country to be formed by state legislation and funding. Since the initial 1947 appropriation that ...

Newark Museum The Newark Museum of Art, formerly known as the Newark Museum, in Newark, New Jersey is the state's largest museum. It holds major collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia (including a large collection of T ...

, Newark, New Jersey * Amarillo Museum of Art, Amarillo, TX *

Greenville County Museum of Art The Greenville County Museum of Art (GCMA) is an art museum located in Greenville, South Carolina. Its collections focus mainly on American art, and its holdings include works by Andrew Wyeth, Jasper Johns (raised in South Carolina), William Hen ...

, Greenville, South Carolina *The Johnson Collection, Spartanburg, South Carolina *

Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art ("The Johnson Museum") is an art museum located on the northwest corner of the Arts Quad on the main campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Its collection includes two windows from Frank Llo ...

, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY * Gannett Center,

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, NY * Mary Baldwin College, Staunton, VA *

Mount Holyoke College Art Museum The Mount Holyoke College Art Museum (established 1876) in South Hadley, Massachusetts, is located on the Mount Holyoke College campus and is a member of Museums10. It is one of the oldest teaching museums in the country, dedicated to providin ...

, Mount Holyoke, MA *

Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery The Sheldon Museum of Art is an art museum in the city of Lincoln, in the state of Nebraska in the Midwestern United States. Previously called the University of Nebraska Art Galleries and later the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, the institution ...

, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE * Ulrich Museum, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS *

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, Philadelphia, PA * Weatherspoon Art Gallery,

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

, Greensboro, NC *

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...

Museum, Poughkeepsie, NY *

Smith College Museum of Art The Smith College Museum of Art, abbreviated SCMA, is the art museum of Smith College, located in Northampton, Massachusetts, Northampton, Massachusetts. First established in 1870, the museum is part of the American Alliance of Museums, Five Coll ...

, Northampton, MA * The Hyde Collection, Glenn Falls, New York

Exhibitions

*1950 Mountcastle's, Suffolk, VA *1951 Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, Irene Leache Memorial, Norfolk, VA *1952 Abingdon Square Painters, New York City *1951–53 Group shows at the Valentine Museum and Linden Gallery, Richmond, VA *1953 Group show, Provincetown Art Association *1954 "An Environment of Expression", Theatre-Go-Round, Virginia Beach, VA *1954 Group show, Virginia Intermont College, Bristol, VA *1958 Stable Gallery Invitational Show, New York City *1958 Group Show, Betty Parsons, Section Eleven, New York City *1959 Group Show, Betty Parsons, Section Eleven, New York City *1959 Solo Show, Betty Parsons, Section Eleven, New York City *1959 Group Show, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY *1960 Solo Show, Betty Parsons, Section Eleven, New York City *1960 Group Show, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO *1977 Solo Show, Ingber Gallery, New York City *1977–79 Group Shows, Ingber Gallery, New York City *1977–79 Danforth Museum, Danforth, MA *1977–79 University of Michigan, Marquette, MI *1977–79 Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA *1977–79 Weatherspoon Gallery, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC *1978 Solo Show, Mary Baldwin College, Staunton, VA *1979 Solo Show, Ingber Gallery, New York City *1980 Provincetown Art Association and Museum, "Hans Hofmann as Teacher: Drawings by His Students" *1981 Solo Show, Ingber Gallery, New York City *1981 Solo Show, Womensbank, Richmond, VA *1982 Solo Show, Loonan Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY *1983 Group Show, Marisa del Re Gallery, NY *1984 Solo Show, Northern Michigan University, Marquette *1985 Solo Show, Lockwood-Matthews Mansion Museum, Norwalk, CT *1986 Retrospective Solo Show, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA *1987 Solo Show, Ingber Gallery, NY *1987 Group Show, Graham Gallery, NY and PMW Gallery, Stanford, CT *1988 Solo Show, Northern Virginia Community College, Alexandria, VA *1989 Solo Show, Danville Museum, Danville, VA *1989 Solo Show, Virginia and Suffolk Museum, Virginia *1990 Group Show, Marisa del Re Gallery, NY *1991 Group Show, Marisa del Re Gallery, NY *1992 Solo Show, Marisa del Re Gallery, NY *1993-1994 Group Show, Marisa del Re Gallery, NY *1995-1996 Solo Show, Amarillo Museum of Art, Amarillo, TX *1997 Group Show, Marisa del Re Gallery, NY *1997 Solo Show, Art Museum of Western Virginia, Roanoke, VA *2000 Solo Show, Albany Museum of Art, Albany, GA *2001 Solo Show, Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series, Mabel Smith Douglass Library, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ *2002 Solo Show, Delaware Center for the Arts, Wilmington DE *2003 Holtzman Art Gallery,

Towson University Towson University (TU or Towson) is a public university in Towson, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1866 as Maryland's first training school for teachers, Towson University is a part of the University System of Maryland. Since its foundin ...

*2004 National Academy of Design's Annual Invitational Exhibition, NY, NY *2005 Group Show, "Betty Parsons and the Women", Anita Shapolsky Gallery, NY, NY *2008 Solo Show, McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX *2009 Tobin Theatre Arts Gallery *2010 Spanierman Gallery *2011 Spanierman Gallery *2012 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Anderson Gallery of Virginia Commonwealth University *2013 Group Show, "Ab-Ex/Re-Con", Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn, NY *2016 Group Show, "Women of Abstract Expressionism", Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO. *2016 Group Show, "Women of Abstract Expressionism", Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC *2017 Group Show, "Women of Abstract Expressionism", Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA *2017, "Judith Godwin," Berry Campbell, New York *2019, "Judith Godwin: An Act of Freedom," Berry Campbell, New York *2023, '' Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940-1970'',

Whitechapel Gallery The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the fi ...

,London.

References

External links

* *
Askart.com information on Judith Godwin
including a color image of the work.
A Conversation with Judith Godwin
May 20, 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Godwin, Judith Art Students League of New York alumni Abstract expressionist artists People from Suffolk, Virginia 1930 births 2021 deaths Painters from Virginia Painters from New York City 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American women painters Mary Baldwin University alumni Members of the Jamestowne Society Virginia Commonwealth University alumni