Who She Was…and Is

Though long dispersed, the art of Wilhelmina Godfrey comes together due to the diligence of a young curator

By David Masello

Tiffany Gaines had an idea a few years ago that she jotted down on a Post-It note. It read: “Wilhelmina Godfrey solo show?” At the time Gaines wrote that note to herself, she was working at the admissions desk at the Burchfield Penney Art Center, a museum that has a direct affiliation with New York’s SUNY Buffalo State University. She had earlier earned an undergraduate degree from the university in journalism, followed by a master’s degree in visual studies.

Wilhelmina Godfrey, Jacks, 1950. Egg tempera on board, 18 x 24 in.
Collection of Mark Dabney

Gaines still has that Post-It affixed to her computer at the museum, where she now holds the position of Associate Curator. And she has also made good on that idea of hers, having now curated a landmark show about Wilhelmina Godfrey (1914–1994), “I am what I am”, that debuts at the Center on November 8 and runs through March 31, 2025. It was Gaines’s vision to mount a show devoted to the artist who lived and worked in Buffalo. The show’s very title references a phrase from a screen-print of Godfrey’s that alludes to her role as an artist whose varied media during her fifty-plus years included paintings (both figurative and abstract), printmaking, drawings, and fiber artworks.

“I was so taken by Wilhelmina’s work, when I first came across examples in 2019 that I have always since wanted to do a solo show of her work,” says Gaines, as she roams the gallery in which the show of some 50 works is soon to be hung. “For three years now, I’ve been researching her, her works, where they are, and I wrote about Godfrey as part of my thesis for my master’s program.” Gaines’s enthusiasm for the vast and varied oeuvre of Godfrey’s translates directly to the show that she has created for the public.

Wilhelmina Godfrey, Landscape of Dakar, 1984. Acrylic on canvas, 26 x 34 in.
Collection of Dr. Gerald C. Mead, Jr.

Godfrey was a pivotal figure in the rich African-American cultural life of Buffalo, notably during the 1940s through the 1970s. As Gaines writes in her preparatory materials for the show, “Godfrey’s work incorporates significant representations of her cultural identity and lived experience while also dispelling the myth that Black artists—particularly at the height of the Civil Rights, Black Power, and concurrent Black Arts movements—were solely concerned with themes of identity, social justice, and figurative representation.” As Gaines’s show proves, Godfrey embraced every form of art, while certainly referencing African-American and African themes, though well transcending just the political. “I admire her ability to move so seamlessly across media,” says Gaines, “and for not being defined by one particular area.”

For the full story click on the preferred link below
for your Print or Digital subscription: