During his childhood in
Nutley, New Jersey,[3] Goodrich was a close friend of Reginald Marsh, who would later become an important painter.
Initially Goodrich considered a career as an artist. He studied painting and drawing at the
Art Students League of New York with
Kenneth Hayes Miller from 1913-1915. Between late 1915 and summer 1916, he studied with
Douglas Volk at the
National Academy of Design. In 1916 Goodrich returned to the Art Students League but he gave up his artistic ambitions by 1918.
In 1935 the Whitney Museum of American Art named him Research Curator. He later become the Associate Director in 1948, and then Director in 1958.[4]
^"Lloyd Goodrich: A Chronology", American Art, Vol. 20, No. 2 (1988), pp. 108-110. Accessed April 4, 2023. "1897: Born to Henry Wickes and Madeleine (Lloyd) Goodrich in Nutley, New Jersey"