Edward H. Betts

Edward Howard Betts ( August 4, 1920 – May 17, 2008 ) was an American painter, collagist, author, and teacher. He was known for his abstract paintings which he developed using an improvisational method. He was also an accomplished painter of realistic watercolors. Betts published three instructional books on painting and taught at the University of Illinois.

Biography
Edward Howard Betts was born August 4, 1920, in Yonkers, New York to Harrison and Mildred ( née Waterbury ) Betts.

In 1935, when he was fifteen years old, Betts began taking summer classes at the Art Students League where he studied with George Bridgman, among others. He obtained a degree in art history from Yale University in 1942 and enlisted in the United States Army that same year. After World War II, he was a full time student at the Art Students League from 1946 to 1948. Betts then entered the University of Illinois where he received an M. F. A. degree in 1952.

In 1949 Betts married fellow artist Jane Burke who he had met at the Art Students League. Jane Betts died in 1984.

Betts taught drawing, composition, and painting at the University of Illinois for 35 years until his retirement in 1984. Beginning in 1973 he taught the "Master Class for Advanced Watercolorists" at Rangemark, the studio founded by Barse Miller near Birch Harbor, Maine.

After his retirement from the University of Illinois, Betts moved to Maine where he married Edis Hatch in 1986. He died in Maine in 2008.

Art
Betts was represented for nearly forty years at the Midtown Galleries in New York City. He also exhibited his paintings at several other galleries around the country.

Betts wrote that he had a "split personality" in that his realistic watercolors were thoroughly planned out in advance whereas his abstract acrylics were developed intuitively with no preconceived idea as to what the final result would be. He wrote that "When I paint, I like to feel that I am working with colors and ideas rather than just making a picture." He has been called a powerful influence and an important figure in experimental art.

Over the course of his life Betts worked in a number of different media including oil, casein, lacquer, gouache, watercolor, and acrylic. He also produced collage and mixed media works.

Books Authored by Edward H. Betts

 * (Revised edition of Master Class in Watercolor).
 * (Revised edition of Master Class in Watercolor).
 * (Revised edition of Master Class in Watercolor).
 * (Revised edition of Master Class in Watercolor).