Rosemarie L. Tovell, “The Prints of Betty Goodwin”, Vancouver/Toronto, 2002, pages 30-33, illustrated page 170, plate 122.
Arthur Bardo, “Betty Goodwin's Graphics: Minimum Creates Originals”, “Montreal Star”, 25 March 1970.
In 1970, Montreal artist Betty Goodwin gained acclaim with her inventive soft-ground etchings of vests. Tovell discusses how “a moment of profound consequence in Goodwin's life as an artist occurred in January 1970... she suddenly realized that there was a deep connection between her 'Vest' print and herself; her father, whom she lost in childhood, had earned his living as a maker of vests.” This insight had a great emotional impact on Goodwin, who remarked that “in the end, a successful work is the image of our being.”
Goodwin's exhibition of “Vest” works at Gallery 1640 in March 1970 garnered much praise. Arthur Bardo, a reviewer for the “Montreal Star”, commented: “The printed image of vests, isolated by the white ground, forms a very powerful simple and convincing shape...These are not, as drawings would be, a translation of three-dimensional forms into a two-dimensional space. They are instead the expression of the formal possibilities created by compressing that shallow space.”
The “Vest” etchings are likely Goodwin's most recognizable works, created through her innovative process of placing vests in an etching press.
Betty Roodish Goodwin - Vest No. 2 | Cowley Abbott
