New Exhibitions Unveil the Worlds of Betsy Wyeth

Bob Keyes, Colby News, July 2, 2026

After spending decades behind the scenes promoting and managing her husband’s painting career, Betsy Wyeth is getting overdue attention for her work as an environmental designer and curator of landscapes, characterized by what one observer described as her “austere Yankee minimalism.”

In partnership with the Brandywine and Farnsworth art museums in Chadds Ford, Pa., and Rockland, Maine, respectively, the Colby College Museum of Art recently opened the exhibition By Design: The Worlds of Betsy James Wyeth. Colby’s presentation is on view through Nov. 2 in the museum’s Joan Dignam Schmaltz Gallery of Art at the Paul J. Schupf Art Center in downtown Waterville.