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5 RARE WORKS BY AFRICAN AMERICAN ARTIST WILHELMINA GODFREY MIZED MEDIA ON PAPER ALL SIGNED WITH HER NAME AND/OR WITH HER FIRST INITIAL. EACH MEASURES APPROXIMATELY; 16 3/4 X 22 , 12 1/4 X 17 , 14 1/8 X 22, 13 3/4 X 17 11/4 , 18 X 24 INCHES America Born in Philadelphia, but raised and educated in Buffalo, Wilhelmina Godfrey was a painter, weaver, printmaker, teacher, crafts consultant and writer. She was a graduate of painting from the Albright Art School, attended the Art Institute of Buffalo, and studied at the School for American Craftsmen at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She taught painting and drawing at the Michigan Avenue YMCA in 1951. She became interested in weaving in 1958, after being inspired by an exhibition in Rochester. She organized State University of New York at Buffalo’s weaving program, and was a teacher at their Creative Craft Center from 1967 to 1970. In addition, she taught art classes at the Community Center for St. Philip’s Episcopal Church. In 1974 she received a fellowship to study at the prestigious Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine. Godfrey’s paintings often depicted the African American experience living on Buffalo’s East Side, and her weavings usually reflected African motifs. As teacher and artist, Godfrey won respect from the arts community and served as a role model for young African Americans. In 1979, she presented at the National African American Crafts Conference Symposium. Her presentation was titled “The Negro Slave Crafts Workers of North and South Carolina.” The Arts Council in Buffalo and Erie County and Greater Buffalo Chamber of Commerce acknowledged Godfrey’s lifetime achievements with the bestowal of an Individual Professional Arts Award in 1990. During that same year, Medaille College presented an exhibition of her work. The Burchfield Penney Art Center acquired examples of Godfrey’s paintings and weavings for its collection, her prize-winning painting City Playground , as well as fifteen preliminary studies she made for it. Godfrey, Wilhelmina M. (b. Philadelphia, PA, 1914; active Buffalo, NY, 1990) Bibliography and Exhibitions MONOGRAPHS AND SOLO EXHIBITIONS: BUFFALO (NY). Medaille College. WILHELMINA GODFREY. 1990. Solo retrospective of Godfrey's paintings, prints, and weaving. Godfrey organized the weaving department at the University at Buffalo; received an NEA Craftsman's Fellowship in 1973. Her commissions include a triptych altar painting for St. Philip's Episcopal Church and a five-panel altar painting for St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Buffalo. Nashville (TN). Carl Van Vechten Gallery, Fisk University. Sculpture by WILHELMINA GODFREY. January 16-February 16, 1977. Unpag. exhib. cat., illus. 8vo (23 cm.), wraps. Ed. of 500. GENERAL BOOKS AND GROUP EXHIBITIONS: ATLANTA (GA). Atlanta Life Insurance Co. The Third Annual Atlanta Life National Art Competition and Exhibition. December 4, 1982-January 21, 1983. 20 pp. exhib. cat., 16 b&w illus. Special tribute to Nellie Mae Rowe. 95 items in all media with one image each for the following fourteen artists: Richard Jordan, Robert E. Peppers, Evelyn Terry (Second Place Purchase Award), Carlton Thompson, Freddie Styles, Robert Martin, Lamerol A. Gatewood, Tarrence Corbin, Geraldine McCullough, John T. Scott (purchase award), Michael Harris, Thom Shaw, James E. Pate, Mark E. Marse. Other artists in the show include: Regina Addison, Phoebe Beasley, Jacqueline Bontemps, Marvin P. Brown, Albert V. Chong, Roger Copeland, Tarrance Corbin, James Counts, Chandra Cox, Frank E. Cummings, Earnest Davidson, Tina Dunkley, Michael Ellison, Winston Falgout, Aubra Ford, Lamerol A. Gatewood, Wilhelmina Godfrey, Phyllis Gooden, Kathy Harper, Michael D. Harris, Gaylord Hassan, Cynthia Hawkins, Lee Hill, Terry Hunter, Arnold J. Hurley, Reginald Jackson, Walter C. Jackson, Martha Jackson-Jarvis, Leroy Johnson, Ted Jones, Richard S. Jordan, LaVerne Kemp, Spencer Lawrence, Viola Burley Leak, Robert J. Martin, Geraldine McCullough, Juanita Miller, Lev Mills, Mark E. Morse, Willie Lee Nash, Floyd Newsum, Laurie Ourlicht, John Pass, James E. Pate, Robert E. Peppers, Harper T. Phillips, Alvin Poindexter, Leslie K. Price, Junius Redwood, James R. Reed, Malkia Roberts, Rudy Robinson, Ernest R. Satchell, John T. Scott, Joyce J. Scott, Thom Shaw, Charles Smith, Frank E. Smith, Freddie Syles, Evelyn P. Terry, Carlton Thompson, Billy Uganda, Anthony Utley, Richard Watson, Stephen Watson, Jack White, William Wilkerson, George Wilson, Stanley Wilson. 4to, wraps. First ed. BROOKE-BERTRAM, PEGGY and BARBARA SEALS NEVERGOLD. Uncrowned Queens: African American Women Community Builders of Western New York Volume III. c.2005. Vols. I-III. Each volume contains the biographies and photographs of one hundred women from myriad educational, economic, religious, and social backgrounds, many without previous recognition. Includes African-Canadian women in communities bordering N.Y. state. Vol. III includes a biography of painter/fiber artist Wilhelmina M. Godfrey. BUFFALO (NY). Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Buffalo State University of New York. Concerning Heritage. May 28-October 30, 2005. Group exhibition of work from the collection featuring artists of various ethnic backgrounds. Included: Wilhelmina Godfrey. CHIARMONTE, PAULA. Women Artists in the United States. A Selective Bibliography and Resource Guide on the Fine and Decorative Arts, 1750-1986. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1990. Non-black or male artists who were erroneously included are omitted from this list: Eileen Abdulrashid, Mrs. Allen, Charlotte Amevor, Emma Amos, Dorothy Atkins, Joan Cooper Bacchus, Ellen Banks, Camille Billops, Betty Blayton, Gloria Bohanon, [as Bottanon], Shirley Bolton, Kay Brown, Vivian Browne, Beverly Buchanan, Selma Burke, Margaret Burroughs, Sheryle Butler, Carole Byard, Catti [as Caiti], Yvonne Catchings, Elizabeth Catlett, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Doris L. Colbert, Luiza Combs, Marva Cremer, Doris Crudup, Oletha Devane, Stephanie Douglas, Eugenia Dunn, Queen Ellis, Annette Lewis Ensley, Minnie Jones Evans, Irene Foreman, Miriam Francis, Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller, Ibibio Fundi [as Ibibin] (a.k.a. Jo Austin), Alice Gafford, Wilhelmina Godfrey [as Wihelmina], Amanda Gordon, Cynthia Hawkins, Kitty L. Hayden, Lana T. Henderson [as Lane], Vernita Henderson, Adrienne Hoard, Jacqui Holmes, Margo Humphrey, Clementine Hunter, Claudia Jane Hutchinson, Martha E. Jackson, May Howard Jackson, Suzanne Jackson, Rosalind Jeffries, Marie Johnson, Lois Mailou Jones, Barbara Jones-Hogu [as Jones-Hogn], Harriet Kennedy, Gwendolyn Knight, Edmonia Lewis, Samella Lewis, Ida Magwood, Mary Manigault, Valerie Maynard, Geraldine McCullough, Mrs. McIntosh, Dorothy McQuarter, Yvonne Cole Meo, Onnie Millar, Eva Hamlin Miller, Evangeline Montgomery, Sister Gertrude Morgan, Norma Morgan, Marilyn Nance, Inez Nathaniel-Walker, Senga Nengudi, Winifred Owens-Hart, Denise Palm, Louise Parks, Angela Perkins, Howardena Pindell, Adrian Piper, Stephanie Pogue, Harriet Powers, Elizabeth Prophet, Mavis Pusey, Faith Ringgold, Brenda Rogers, Juanita Rogers, Nellie Mae Rowe, Betye Saar, Augusta Savage, Elizabeth Scott, Joyce Scott, Jewel Simon, Shirley Stark, Della Brown Taylor [as Delia Braun Taylor], Jessie Telfair [as Jessi], Alma Thomas, Phyllis Thompson, Roberta Thompson, Betty Tolbert, Elaine Tomlin, Lucinda Toomer, Elaine Towns, Yvonne Tucker, Charlene Tull, Anna Tyler, Florestee Vance, Pinkie Veal, Ruth Waddy, Carole Ward, Laura W. Waring, Pecolia Warner, Mary Parks Washington, Laura W. Williams, Yvonne Williams. A few African American male artists are also included: Leslie Garland Bolling, Ademola Olugebefola [as Adennola]. MEMPHIS (TN). Memphis Brooks Memorial Art Gallery. Contemporary Afro-American Craftsmen. June 1-29, 1979. Exhib. cat., illus. Group exhibition. Included: Camille Billops, Winifred Brown, Willis (Bing) Davis, Quentin Flemons, Moses O. Fowowe, Wilhelmina M. Godfrey, William J. Harris, Earl J. Hooks, Martha Jackson-Jarvis (color illus. front and back catalogue covers), Napoleon Jones-Henderson, Lynde Jordon, Lester H. Lashley, David R. MacDonald, Sylvia M. Miller, E. J. Montgomery, Winnie Owens-Hart, Lethia Robertson, Joyce J. Scott, Arthur Smith, Gregory Sparks, Sharon Spencer, Isaiah Stansberry, Earl D. Washington, Acquaetta Lelee Williams, Chester Lee Williams, Viola Wood, Theresa-India Young, 8vo, stapled pictorial wraps. MEMPHIS (TN). Shelby State Community College. First National African-American Crafts Conference & Jubilee. May 29-June 3, 1979. Artists listed on the agenda, committees and boards include: Richard Hunt, Patricia Lechman, Barbara Cole, Willis Bing Davis, Wilhelmina Godfrey, Earl Hooks, Mimi Semmes Dann, Luther Hampton, Frances Hassell, Samella Lewis, Victoria Meek, Napoleon-Jones, Carroll H. Simms, Winnie Owens, Lethia Robertson, E. J. Montgomery, Akua Sharif-McDaniel, Karen Jenkins, James Tanner, Carole Allen Ward. 11 x 17 in . Folding sheet, printed in red, black, olive, tan on heavy yellow paper stock. NASHVILLE (TN). Fisk University Art Gallery. The Afro-American Collection, Fisk University. 1976. 64 pp. exhib. cat., illus., brief biogs., checklist of works by 63 artists in the Fisk University Collection as of 1976. Pref. by Robert L. Hall; text by David C. Driskell. Artists include: Skunder Boghossian, Ellen Bond, Jacqueline Bontemps, Michael Borders, Elizabeth Catlett, Claude Clark, Samuel Countee, Ralph Arnold, William Artis, Richmond Barthé, Romare Bearden, G. Caliman Coxe, Allan Crite, Dante (Donald Graham), Jeff Donaldson, Lilian Dorsey, Aaron Douglas, John Dowell, David Driskell, Elton Fax, Wilhelmina Godfrey [as Godfrey Wilhelmina], Clementine Hunter, Louise Jefferson, Adrienne Jenkins, Wilmer Jennings, Palmer Hayden, Earl J. Hooks, Manuel Hughes, Ben Jones, Malvin Gray Johnson, Sargent Johnson, William H. Johnson, Ben Jones, Jacob Lawrence, Sam Middleton, James Miles, Keith Morrison, Roderick Owens, James Phillips, Stephanie Pogue, James Porter, Martin Puryear, Gregory Ridley, Leo Robinson, William E. Scott, John Scott, Albert A. Smith, Vincent Smith, David Stephens, Nelson Stevens, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Bill Traylor, Alma Thomas, Mildred Thompson, James Wells, Charles White, Benjamin Wigfall, Walter Williams, William T. Williams, Ellis Wilson, Viola Wood, Hale Woodruff and Charles Young. 4to (28 cm.), wraps. ROBERTSON, JACK. Twentieth-Century Artists on Art. An Index to Artists' Writings, Statements, and Interviews. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1985. Useful reference work; includes numerous African American artists: Ron Adams, Charles Alston, Charlotte Amevor, Benny Andrews, Dorothy Atkins, Casper Banjo, Ellen Banks, Romare Bearden, Ed Bereal, Arthur Berry, John Biggers, Betty Blayton, Gloria Bohanon, Shirley Bolton, David Bradford, Arthur Britt, Frederick Brown, Kay Brown, Winifred Brown, Vivian Browne, Calvin Burnett, Margaret Burroughs, Cecil Burton, Sheryle Butler, Carole Byard, Arthur Carraway, Bernie Casey, Yvonne Catchings, Mitchell Caton, Elizabeth Catlett, Dana Chandler, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Claude Clark Jr., Irene Clark, Donald Coles, Robert Colescott, Dan Concholar, Eldzier Cortor, Marva Cremer, Doris Crudup, Dewey Crumpler, Emilio Cruz, Samuel Curtis, William Curtis, Alonzo Davis, Bing Davis, Dale Davis, Roy DeCarava, Beauford Delaney, Brooks Dendy, Murry DePillars, Robert D'Hue, Kenneth Dickerson, Leo Dillon, Aaron Douglas, Emory Douglas, David Driskell, Eugenia Dunn, Annette Ensley, Eugene Eda, Melvin Edwards, Marion Epting, Minnie Evans, Frederick Eversley, Tom Feelings, Mikele Fletcher, Moses O. Fowowe, Miriam Francis, Ibibio Fundi, Alice Gafford, West Gale, Joseph Geran, Sam Gilliam, Robert Glover, Wilhelmina Godfrey, Rex Goreleigh, Robert H. Green, Donald O. Greene, Ron Griffin, Eugene Grigsby. Horathel Hall, Wes Hall, David Hammons, Philip Hampton, Marvin Harden, John T. Harris, William Harris, Kitty Hayden, Ben Hazard, Napoleon Jones-Henderson (as Henderson), William H. Henderson, Ernest Herbert, Leon Hicks, Candace Hill-Montgomery, Alfred Hinton, Al Hollingswoth, Earl Hooks, Raymond Howell, Margo Humphrey, Richard Hunt, Bill Hutson, Suzanne Jackson, Walter Jackson, Rosalind Jeffries, Marie Johnson, Ben Jones, Laura Jones, Lois Mailou Jones, Jack Jordan, Cliff Joseph, Gwendolyn Knight, Larry Compton Kolawole, Raymond Lark, Jacob Lawrence, Flora Lewis, James E. Lewis, Norman Lewis, Samella Lewis, Tom Lloyd, Juan Logan, Willie Longshore, Ed Love, Al Loving, Philip Mason, Richard Mayhew, Valerie Maynard, Karl McIntosh, William McNeil, Yvonne Meo, Sam Middleton, Onnie Millar, Eva H. Miller, Sylvia Miller, Lev Mills, James Mitchell, Arthur Monroe, Evangeline Montgomery, Ron Moore, Norma Morgan, Jimmie Mosely, Otto Neals, Trudell Obey, Kermit Oliver, Haywood Oubré, John Outterbridge, Lorenzo Pace, William Pajaud, Denise Palm, James Parks, Angela Perkins, Howardena Pindell, Elliott Pinkney, Adrian Piper, Horace Pippin, Leslie Price, Noah Purifoy, Martin Puryear, Roscoe Reddix, Jerry Reed, Robert G. Reid, William Reid, John Rhoden, Gary Rickson, John Riddle, Faith Ringgold, Haywood Rivers, Lethia Robertson, Brenda Rogers, Charles D. Rogers, Bernard Rollins, Arthur Rose, John Russell, Betye Saar, Raymond Saunders, Charles Shelton, Thomas Sills, Jewel Simon, Merton Simpson, Van Slater, Alfred James Smith, Arenzo Smith, Arthur Smith, Damballah Smith, George Smith, Howard Smith. Greg Sparks, Sharon Spencer, Nelson Stevens, James Tanner, Della Taylor, Rod Taylor, Evelyn Terry, Alma Thomas, James "Son Ford" Thomas, Bob Thompson. John Torres, Elaine Towns, Curtis Tucker, Yvonne Tucker, Charlene Tull, Leo Twiggs, Alfred Tyler, Anna Tyler, Bernard Upshur, Florestee Vance, Royce Vaughn, Ruth Waddy, Larry Walker, William Walker, Bobby Walls, Carole Ward, Pecolia Warner, Mary Washington, James Watkins, Roland Welton, Amos White, Charles White, Tim Whiten, Acquaetta Williams, Chester Williams, Daniel Williams, Laura Williams, William T. Williams, Luster Willis, Fred Wilson, John Wilson, Stanley Wilson, Bernard Wright, Richard Wyatt, Bernard Young, Charles Young, Milton Young. 4to, cloth. TALLAHASSEE (FL). FAMU Art Gallery, Florida A&M State University. Impact 79: Afro-American Women Artists. April 2-20, 1979. Unpag. (16 pp.) exhib. cat., photos of artists, biogs., some statements. Text by Regenia Perry. Artists included: Camille Billops, Vivian E. Browne [as Brown], Doris Colbert, Oletha DeVane, Wilhelmina Godfrey, Lana Henderson, Adrienne Hoard, Martha Jackson, Winnie Owens, Betye Saar, Elizabeth Scott, Joyce Scott, Jewel Simon, Yvonne Tucker. 8vo (16 x 24 cm.), wraps. Wilhelmina McAlpin Godfrey Born on 8-27-1914. She was born in Philadelphia, PA. She was accomplished in the area of the Arts. She later died on 5-13-1994. Basic InfoAttachmentsRelationsOrganizationsAccomplishmentsSchoolsEmployers Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Wilhelmina McAlpin was raised and educated in Buffalo. She was married to William Godfrey, Jr., for fifty-eight years and they had one child, Carol Godfrey Wing. She once told a reporter that she had drawn and painted all her life. She took all the art classes available at Fosdick Masten Park High School, but the Depression interrupted her art education until the mid-1940s, when she won scholarships to the Art Institute of Buffalo and the Albright Art School. Her paintings from that era documented life on Buffalo's east side. In 1951, she organized and taught painting and drawing classes at the former Michigan Avenue YMCA in Buffalo. In 1958, she began weaving after seeing an exhibit in Rochester, New York and produced abstract works that borrowed themes and designs from African art. She was an artist for eleven years at AM&A's department store, leaving in 1963 to pursue her studio work full time. She organized the weaving department at the University at Buffalo and was an instructor at its Creative Craft Center from 1967 to 1970. She also was a founder and director of the Langston Hughes Center. During this period, Wilhelmina organized and taught creative craft classes at St. Philip's Episcopal Church's Community Center. In 1974, she received a craftsmen's fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and earned a scholarship to the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine. She served as Crafts Adviser to the Buffalo Wider Horizons Craft Program, the National Endowment for the Arts craftsmen's fellowship in 1976. In 1979, she presented a paper with slides titled The Negro Slave Crafts Workers of North and South Carolina at the first National African American Crafts Conference Symposium in Memphis, Tennessee. Her commissions included a triptych altar painting for St. Philip's Episcopal Church and a five-panel altar painting for St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Buffalo. In 1990, she was recognized with the Buffalo and Erie County Arts Council's Individual Artist Within the Community Award. During that same year, a retrospective of her paintings, prints, and weaving was exhibited at Medaille College, which created a gallery so it could display her works. In December 1994, the Burchfield-Penney Art Center's Art Committee voted to accept Wilhelmina's City Playground, 1949-50 for inclusion in the permanent collection. The work was donated by her husband and daughter. Mrs. Godfrey's works have been purchased locally and across the United States. She was a life member of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery; past officer of the Albright-Knox Members Council and the Buffalo Craftsmen; board member of the New York State Craftsmen; member of the African American Crafts Council, the American Sector of the World Crafts Council; member of the National Conference of Artists; and member of Arts Development Services of Buffalo. She also was a member of the advisory board for the Arts Committee for Erie Community College City Campus and the art advisory committee of Buffalo's Metro Rail system. Mrs. Godfrey was a seventy-year member of St. Philip's Episcopal Church. She organized the church's Girls Friendly Society in 1951, and was a past president of St. Philip's Episcopal Churchwomen. She also was a member of St. Philip's Community Center, past member of the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York's Church Mission of Help, and chairwoman of Episcopal Churchwomen for the Central Erie Deanery from 1968 to 1970. She was a past president of Beta Phi Chapter of Iota Phi Lambda sorority and was the sorority's journalist for the Eastern Region and assistant to its national publicity chairman. Mrs. Godfrey was a gourmet cook, an avid fisherman, and a creative seamstress. Wilhelmina McAlpin Godfrey (August 27, 1914 – May 13, 1994) was an African American tapestry artist who was very involved in her community and was an art educator. Biography Godfrey was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and grew up in Buffalo, New York.[1] She was married to William Godfrey Jr. and they had one child together, Carol Godfrey Wing.[2] Wilhelmina Godfrey died on May 13, 1994.[1] Wilhelmina Godfrey went to Fosdick Masten Park High School. While she was there, she took all the art classes that the school offered. When the Great Depression hit, she had to put her education on hold. She was able to continue her education in the 1940s after she received scholarships from both the Art Institute of Buffalo and the Albright Art School. The paintings that she created during this time period describe life for those living on Buffalo's east side. In 1951, she organized and taught drawing and painting classes at the YMCA on Michigan Ave in Buffalo. In 1958, after being inspired by an exhibit that she saw in Rochester, New York, she started weaving. Her weavings were abstract and often brought in elements of African Art. From 1952 to 1963 Godfrey worked for AM&A's department store as an artist, but in 1963 she left to focus on her art. She organized the University at Buffalo's weaving program, and from 1967 to 1970, she was a teacher at their Creative Craft Center. She taught and organized art classes at the Community Center for St. Philip's Episcopal Church. In 1974, Wilhelmina Godfrey received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and a scholarship from Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. In 1979, she presented at the National African American Crafts Conference Symposium. Her presentation was titled The Negro Slave Crafts Workers of North and South Carolina. In 1990, received the Individual Artist Within the Community Award from the Buffalo and Erie County Arts Council. In this same year, she also had an exhibition at Medaille College. In 1994, the Burchfield Penney decided to include her piece City Playground in their permanent collection. On top of all of this, she participated in many other local organizations.[2] During her lifetime, she was commissioned to create artworks for both St. Philip's Episcopal Church and St. Matthew's Episcopal Church.[2] Besides City Playground, the Burchfield Penney Art Center also has three other pieces that Wilhelmina Godfrey created in their permanent collection including: Untitled (#22), Sint Maarten, and Face Fetish.[3] Wilhelmina Godfrey (1914-1994) American Born: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America Born in Philadelphia, but raised and educated in Buffalo, Wilhelmina Godfrey was a painter, weaver, printmaker, teacher, crafts consultant and writer. She was a graduate of painting from the Albright Art School, attended the Art Institute of Buffalo, and studied at the School for American Craftsmen at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She taught painting and drawing at the Michigan Avenue YMCA in 1951. She became interested in weaving in 1958, after being inspired by an exhibition in Rochester. She organized State University of New York at Buffalo’s weaving program, and was a teacher at their Creative Craft Center from 1967 to 1970. In addition, she taught art classes at the Community Center for St. Philip’s Episcopal Church. In 1974 she received a fellowship to study at the prestigious Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine. Godfrey’s paintings often depicted the African American experience living on Buffalo’s East Side, and her weavings usually reflected African motifs. As teacher and artist, Godfrey won respect from the arts community and served as a role model for young African Americans. In 1979, she presented at the National African American Crafts Conference Symposium. Her presentation was titled “The Negro Slave Crafts Workers of North and South Carolina.” The Arts Council in Buffalo and Erie County and Greater Buffalo Chamber of Commerce acknowledged Godfrey’s lifetime achievements with the bestowal of an Individual Professional Arts Award in 1990. During that same year, Medaille College presented an exhibition of her work. The Burchfield Penney Art Center acquired examples of Godfrey’s paintings and weavings for its collection, her prize-winning painting City Playground, as well as fifteen preliminary studies she made for it.
