Anna Catherine Wiley (January 18, 1879 – May 16, 1958) was an American artist active primarily in the early twentieth century. After training with the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

and receiving instruction from artists such as

Lloyd Branson Enoch Lloyd Branson (1853–1925) was an American artist best known for his portraits of Southern politicians and depictions of early East Tennessee history. One of the most influential figures in Knoxville's early art circles, Branson rec ...

and

Frank DuMond Frank Vincent DuMond (August 20, 1865 – February 6, 1951) was one of the most influential teacher-painters in 20th-century America. He was an illustrator and American Impressionist painter of portraits and landscapes, and a prominent teac ...

, Wiley painted a series of

impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

works that won numerous awards at expositions across the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

, and have since been displayed in museums such as the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

and the

Morris Museum of Art The Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia was established in 1985 as a non-profit foundation by William S. Morris III, publisher of The Augusta Chronicle, in memory of his parents, as the first museum dedicated to the collection and exhibition ...

. In 1926, Wiley was institutionalized after suffering a mental breakdown, and never painted again.Elizabeth Moore
Anna Catherine Wiley
''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2009. Retrieved: 28 June 2011.

Life

Wiley was born in Coal Creek, Tennessee (modern

Rocky Top "Rocky Top" is an American country and bluegrass song written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant in 1967 and first recorded by the Osborne Brothers later that same year. The song, which is a city dweller's lamentation over the loss of a simpler a ...

), the daughter of Edwin Floyd Wiley and Mary McAdoo Wiley. She was the granddaughter of prominent attorney and businessman, William Gibbs McAdoo, Sr., and niece of U.S. Treasury Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo, Jr.Alice Howell, Lucile Deaderick (ed.), ''Heart of the Valley: A History of Knoxville, Tennessee'' (Knoxville, Tenn.: East Tennessee Historical Society, 1976), pp. 622-3. Her father worked in the coal mining industry, but in 1882 the family moved to

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state's ...

(their house on Laurel Avenue still stands). Wiley-catherine-lady-with-parasol

In the mid-1890s, Wiley attended the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

, where she gained initial recognition for some illustrations she had created for the school's yearbook. She moved to New York in 1903 to study with the Art Students League, and received extensive instruction from impressionist Frank DuMond (1865–1951). Her time in New York exposed her to a variety of artists and art movements, namely the

Ash Can School The Ashcan School, also called the Ash Can School, was an artistic movement in the United States during the late 19th-early 20th century that produced works portraying scenes of daily life in New York, often in the city's poorer neighborhoods. ...

, the French

Barbizon school The Barbizon school of painters were part of an art movement towards Realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870. It takes its name f ...

, and the works of impressionist

William Merritt Chase William Merritt Chase (November 1, 1849October 25, 1916) was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later would become Parsons School of Design. ...

, all of which influenced her later work. In 1905, after a brief stay at Chase's

New York School of Art Parsons School of Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is a private art and design college located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhatt ...

, Wiley returned to Knoxville to teach art at the University of Tennessee. She continued to receive instruction from long-time Knoxville painter Lloyd Branson, and quickly became a leading figure in the city's art circle. In 1910, Wiley captured the award for "Most Meritorious Collection" at Knoxville's

Appalachian Exposition The Appalachian Exposition, also known as the Appalachian Exhibition, was an event held in 1910 and 1911 in Knoxville, Tennessee's on property (now Chilhowee Park) owned by Knoxville Railway and Light. The park grounds were 65 acres and included ...

, and chaired the Fine Arts Department for the city's 1913

National Conservation Exposition The National Conservation Exposition was an exposition held in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, between September 1, 1913 and November 1, 1913. The exposition celebrated the cause of bringing national attention to conservation activities, espe ...

. In subsequent years, Wiley consistently won the best painter award at various regional exhibitions, and her work was exhibited at the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...

, the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Cincinnati Art Museum The Cincinnati Art Museum is an art museum in the Eden Park neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1881, it was the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies, and is one of the oldest in the United States. Its collection of ov ...

, among other places. Following the deaths of her father (in 1919) and Branson (in 1925), Wiley suffered a mental breakdown from which she never recovered, and was institutionalized until her death in 1958. She is buried in Knoxville's

Old Gray Cemetery Old Gray Cemetery is the second-oldest cemetery in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Established in 1850, the cemetery contains the graves of some of Knoxville's most influential citizens, ranging from politicians and soldiers, to artists an ...

. Wiley's sister, Eleanor McAdoo Wiley (1876–1977), was also a noted regional artist. In January 2012, an untitled 1913 painting by Wiley sold for $107,000 at an auction in Knoxville. The painting was purchased by the

Knoxville Museum of Art The Knoxville Museum of Art (KMA), is an art museum in Knoxville, Tennessee. It specializes in historical and contemporary art pieces from the East Tennessee region. According to its mission statement, the museum "celebrates the art and artists o ...

.Mike Blackerby,
Knoxville Museum Fetches Rare Painting for 107K
" ''Knoxville News Sentinel'', 30 January 2012. Retrieved: 30 January 2012. In November 2012, the Knoxville Museum of Art and Knox County's Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection pooled their resources to purchase another Wiley painting, entitled "Morning Milking Time," for $77,000.Amy McRary,
KMA, McClung Collection Pool Funds to Bring Wiley Painting Home
" ''Knoxville News Sentinel'', 16 February 2013. Retrieved: 18 February 2013.

Works

Wiley has been described as Knoxville's "one noted impressionist."Jack Neely,
Art In the Afternoon: The KMA's new Higher Ground exhibit holds a few magic tricks
" ''Metro Pulse'', 6 August 2008. Accessed at the Internet Archive, 2 October 2015. Like many impressionists during this period, she was influenced by the work of French painter

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. Born ...

. Her best-known works tend to depict women and interiors, and are characterized by vivid color and brushstroke. Her style drifted toward

abstract impressionism Abstract Impressionism is an art movement that originated in New York City, in the 1940s.Eduoard Malingue Gallery. ''Impressionism to Modern Art.'' Hong Kong: Eduard Malingue Gallery, 2011. 10. It involves the painting of a subject such as real-li ...

later in her career. The Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection (a division of the Knox County Public Library system) owns the largest collection of Wiley's works, with more than three dozen paintings, about a dozen drawings, and her scrapbooks. Several of the McClung Collection's paintings are on display at the East Tennessee History Center in Knoxville. The Knoxville Museum of Art owns three Wiley paintings and four drawings. Wiley's work has been displayed in various museums across the country, including New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Morris Museum of Art in

Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navig ...

, the Charleston Renaissance Gallery, and the Greenville Museum of Art in

Greenville, South Carolina Greenville (; locally ) is a city in and the seat of Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 census, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. Greenville is located approximately halfway be ...

List of selected works

*''Artist's Mother Before a Window'' (n.d.) *''Haystacks'' (n.d

*''Landscape with Gazebo (n.d.) *''Girl in Blue'' (1907) *''Willow Pond'' (191

*''A Sunlit Afternoon'' (c. 191

*''Morning'' (192

*''Tennessee Landscape'' (c. 1921) *''By the Arbor'' (192

References

External links

Anna Catherine Wiley Sketches Collection Finding Aid
– University of Tennessee Special Collections
Anna Catherine Wiley Sketches Digital Collection
– University of Tennessee, Knoxville {{DEFAULTSORT:Wiley, Catherine People from Knoxville, Tennessee University of Tennessee alumni 1879 births 1958 deaths Artists from Tennessee American women painters 20th-century American painters American Impressionist painters 20th-century American women artists People from Rocky Top, Tennessee

Life

Works

List of selected works

See also

References

External links