CHADDS FORD, Pa. – Betsy James Wyeth, the widow, business manager and muse of painter Andrew Wyeth, died Tuesday at age 98, according to the Brandywine River Museum of Art in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, which she helped found.
She was a guiding force throughout her husband’s career, documenting and promoting his work and the legacy of a family that included book illustrator N.C.
Wyeth, her father-in-law, and painter Jamie Wyeth, her son. After the former's death, she compiled and edited “The Wyeths: The Letters of N.
C. Wyeth, 1901-1945,” a book that led to a reassessment of his career. In 1976 she published the first book on her husband’s work, “Wyeth at Kuerners,” followed by “Christina’s World” in 1982.