Judith Godwin significantly contributed to the 20th century New York avant-garde. Moving from her native Virginia to join her friend Martha Graham in New York in 1953, Godwin associated with the flourishing scene of the Abstract Expressionist movement. After enrolling in the Art Students League, Godwin studied under Hans Hofmann, developing her courageous approach to composition and colour. Influences of Hofmann’s teaching and the expansive world of dancer Martha Graham imbued a freedom and boldness within Godwin’s painting. Though overshadowed by her male counterparts in the Abstract Expressionist canon, the artist was supported from the outset by influential art dealer Betty Parsons, who included Godwin as the youngest artist in the inaugural exhibition at Section Eleven Gallery in 1957 alongside Agnes Martin and went on to give her solo exhibitions in 1959 and 1960.
Godwin’s thesis was – and remained – one of liberation from the conventions of a movement anchored in a language of masculinity. Starkly aware of the limitations imposed on her by her sex and sexuality, Godwin sought to redefine such ‘male’ values in energetic abstractions that brought a loose geometry, characterised by soaring arcs and sensuous forms, into dialogue with nature and Zen philosophy. Beginning in this time of experimentation and defiance, Godwin’s language of modernism remains a radical statement today.