Mary Godwin

Her early works were considered radical, challenging the traditionalism of the Royal Academy of Arts. In spite of severe criticism, she persisted in establishing herself as a modernist artist. She showed her works consistently from 1914 to 1960, a sustained career of almost half a century. She is recognized as an important contributor to the London Group.

• Name — Mary Godwin • Born — 1887 • Birthplace — Stoke Bishop, Bristol • Died — 1960 • Field — Oil painter, water colourist and etcher • Education — Women’s Department of King’s College, Westminster Technical Institute • Movement — The London Group

Emily Mary Godwin was born at Stoke Bishop, a suburb of Bristol, in 1887. From 1908 to 1910 Mary Godwin studied in London with John Byam Shaw, who taught at The Women’s Department of King’s College. From 1911 to 1914 Godwin studied at the Westminster School of Art under Walter Sickert. In 1915 she studied with Harold Gilman, who influenced her use of colour. Known initially as Miss E. M. Godwin, Mary Godwin soon dropped her first name, perhaps because another Chelsea artist was already exhibiting as E. Godwin. Miss L. C. Godwin, possibly a sister of Mary Godwin, was also an artist and lived at Stoke Bishop, Bristol before moving to Cornwall in the 1920s. Mary Godwin lived most of her life in London, at addresses including 225, 253, and 68 Hampstead Road. She also painted in the West Country, France and Madeira, Portugal.

Mary Godwin is first listed as exhibiting at the New English Art Club (NEAC) and the London Salon of the Allied Artists Association (AAA) in 1913. She showed her works consistently in The London Group's exhibitions from 1914 to 1960. In addition to the LG, NEAC and AAA, her works appeared at the Bloomsbury Gallery, the Chenil Gallery, the Goupil Gallery, the Manchester City Art Gallery, the National Portrait Society, and even the Royal Academy. Harold Gilman died in 1919, after only a short time at the Westminster School of Art, but by then he had inspired a loyal group of followers, including Mary Godwin, Ruth Doggett, and Marjorie Sherlock, who carried on with his approach into the 1920s and 1930s. Thirty-three of Godwin's paintings were displayed in a solo show at the Leger Galleries in London as of January 1936, including The Bay, The Villa, and English Bay, Vancouver. An illustration of The Bay was included in the January 1st issue of Apollo. Godwin's painting A Back-Room in Somerstown is featured on the back cover of Jane Johnson's Works exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists, 1824-1893 and the New English Art Club, 1888-1917: an Antique Collectors' Club research project (c1975).

Godwin's painting A Back Room in Somers Town provides the title for a mystery by John Malcolm. Paintings by Mary Godwin and Walter Sickert are important to the plot of the book.