So the 100th birthday of Françoise Sullivan and the late Jean Paul Riopelle would have eclipsed the March 19 commemoration of Betty Goodwin, also born a century ago? The year 1923 was generous for art in Quebec, with the birth of Jean McEwen… But collective memory and fame are sometimes frugal, not to say stingy.

Have we forgotten Goodwin’s work, even though it was so glorified during his lifetime? Since his death on January 1st^um In December 2008, his creation was rarely exhibited. Roger Bellemare explains that there is often a “normal purgatory for an artist who dies old” because “another generation comes and displaces the previous one…”

That’s all ? He adds that “Sadly, Goodwin’s successor has not yet been decided” and that “general interest in all things cultural in Quebec is often moderate.” Sad and realistic observation. Certainly, as Bellemare says, “museums could do something if his works were very present in their collections.” Furthermore, Goodwin, who speaks of suffering, is very relevant. But we’re more looking for entertainment in all this fear that’s gripping the world right now.”

Christian Lambert takes the opportunity to quote Isabelle de Mévius, Belgian origin and founding director of 1700 La Poste, who emphasized that “the New World is interested in young artists, while in Europe we often tend to highlight older artists.” … And in fact, the 1700 La Poste often gave artists from Quebec and Canada a more extensive career, something that is almost no longer the case in our Montreal museums … Bellemare and Lambert, for their part, valued already recognized artists as much as emerging artists, to achieve a ” “Generational dialogue,” says Roger Bellemare.

A moving work

However, Bellemare, who had known the artist and his work since 1971, continues: “Goodwin and his art were very popular with the public. During his first retrospective at the Museum of Fine Arts [en 1988]There was a rush, a record number of visitors. People felt that there was something very human about her work, that they could have an encounter with her, that her work was both new and universal at the same time. Betty didn’t really like meeting people, she was shy, but during this retrospective people had the opportunity to ask her questions. A woman who told him that she was very disturbed by his art asked him why in some of his works the body of a figure is shown on one side while the head of the same creature is placed elsewhere in a corner of the work be. .. Betty, unable to explain cubism or emotional dissociation, simply replied: “Sometimes I just feel that way.“People were touched by his images of swimmers seemingly drowning or being rescued…”

While we are in the process of developing a Riopelle wing at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, couldn’t we at least create a Goodwin room in a museum in Canada? “It would be good to show it with works by Joseph Beuys… or John Heward,” Christian Lambert added. Heward, another somewhat forgotten artist… Who might we talk about again on his 100th birthday in 2034?

Luckily, gallery owners Roger Bellemare and Christian Lambert decided to show Betty’s work Goodwin, around twenty works, mainly pieces created between 1971 and 1979, including several etchings from 1971-1972, a period of great abundance in this designer’s work. The exhibition is accompanied by 12 photographs of Goodwin’s studio, taken by photographer Geoffrey James in 1994. Pending a necessary and more comprehensive re-reading of his work…

To watch in the video