W.F.G. Godfrey

William Frederick George Godfrey (1884-1971) CPE

William Frederick George Godfrey was born June 12, 1884, in London, England. He studied architecture before immigrating to Canada in 1910, where he attended classes at the Ottawa Art Association and at the Central Technical School in Toronto with F.S. Challener and C. Ahrens. He worked for the Canadian National Railway for 40 years before finding work with the Toronto Transit Commission designing the Yonge Street subway. During the 1920s he exhibited pencil drawings, dry points, and block prints. The latter received wide recognition at American exhibitions, which encouraged Godfrey to focus on relief printing. He produced most of his block prints during the 1930s. Godfrey passed away in Toronto in 1971.

Source: Oko, Andrew J. The Society of Canadian Painter-Etchers and Engravers in Retrospect. Hamilton: Art Gallery of Hamilton, 1981.