Lot 48: Betty Roodish Goodwin 1923 - 2008 Canadian steel,

Betty Roodish Goodwin 1923 - 2008 Canadian steel, steel filings and magnets The Tearing of a Voice 37 x 28 1/2 x 1 1/4 inches 94 x 72.4 x 3.2 centimeters titled Literature:France Morin, Steel Notes, 1989, page 110 Provenance:Sable-Castelli Gallery, Toronto Christopher Horne, Toronto Private Collection, Toronto The Tearing of a Voice is a work that proceeds from Betty Goodwin's celebrated Steel Notes series that was central to the group of her drawings and sculpture that were chosen to represent Canada at the twentieth São Paulo Bienal in 1989. Elegant and profound, Goodwin's work presents us with what initially seems like a simple form, then compels us to hold our gaze and question the subtlety of what we see. As with the work of many great sculptors, The Tearing of a Voice is rooted in Goodwin's drawings of the human form, and suggests the inanimate objects - vests, chairs and shelves - that she was able to depict as though they were inhabited by warm bodies, whether fully realized or intuited by the viewer. In referring to the materials she incorporated in her sculpture, Goodwin said, "The universe we live in is made up of some very powerful forces and magnetism is one of them.....In French, magnets are called aimants which is very close to amants, lovers, in other words two clinging things. I am using these magnets with steel filings.....they could easily be conceived of as little tufts of hair."