Betsy James Wyeth

An inscribed first edition monograph on Andrew Wyeth's most famous painting.

• Betsy James Wyeth (American).
• Illustrations by Andrew Wyeth.
• Christina's World: Paintings and Pre-studies of Andrew Wyeth.
• Boston: Houghton, Mifflin Company, 1982.
• [vi], 281, [1] pp.
• Oblong 4to.
• Original mustard cloth and illustrated dust jacket.
• Inscribed in Betsy Wyeth's hand, "For Lincoln and Fido / with love / Betsy & Andy," with "Andy" in the artist's hand.

An outstanding association copy of the monograph on the painting which initiated the relationship between Andrew Wyeth and his intimate friend and adviser, Lincoln Kirstein (1907-1996). Kirstein, who was on the board of MoMA, met Wyeth after the museum acquired Christina's World in 1948. Wyeth was still largely unknown at that time, and he quickly came to rely on Kirstein for support and honest criticism of his work. "Kirstein appointed himself Wyeth's friend, admirer, mentor, and stern critic - in essence a supersuccessor to NC. [...] Wyeth thinks that in the 1950s he needed Kirstein to push him toward more form in his work, more solidity" (Meryman, Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life (1998) p. 239, 243). Kirstein, who disdained most abstract art, was essential in providing Wyeth the confidence he needed to continue work in the face of hostile critics who derided his art as sentimental and unsophisticated. Wyeth was fond of quoting Kirstein's dismissive opinion of the critics, "Why do you want approval from those horses' asses?" (ibid, p. 390).

Kirstein was a father figure to two generations of Wyeth artists, and as Andrew's son Jamie developed his own artistic gifts, Kirstein began to transfer his attention to the younger Wyeth. "After posing for nineteen-year-old Jamie, Kirstein more or less shifted his allegiance from Andrew and became Jamie's friend and mentor. Kirstein told Betsy, 'You gave me the only son I ever had'" (ibid, p. 275).

"Fido" was Kirstein's wife, Fidelma Cadmus (1906-1991), a painter and the sister of the artist Paul Cadmus.

Lincoln Kirstein and Fidelma Cadmus