13 Facts About Catherine Wiley

Anna Catherine Wiley was an American artist active primarily in the early twentieth century.

In 1926, Catherine Wiley was institutionalized after suffering a mental breakdown, and never painted again.

Catherine Wiley was the granddaughter of prominent attorney and businessman, William Gibbs McAdoo, Sr.

Catherine Wiley's father worked in the coal mining industry, but in 1882 the family moved to Knoxville.

Catherine Wiley moved to New York in 1903 to study with the Art Students League, and received extensive instruction from impressionist Frank DuMond.

In 1905, after a brief stay at Chase's New York School of Art, Catherine Wiley returned to Knoxville to teach art at the University of Tennessee.

Catherine Wiley 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, Catherine Wiley captured the award for "Most Meritorious Collection" at Knoxville's Appalachian Exposition, and chaired the Fine Arts Department for the city's 1913 National Conservation Exposition.

In subsequent years, Catherine Wiley consistently won the best painter award at various regional exhibitions, and her work was exhibited at the National Academy of Design, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Cincinnati Art Museum, among other places.

Catherine Wiley's sister, Eleanor McAdoo Catherine Wiley, was a noted regional artist.

In January 2012, an untitled 1913 painting by Catherine Wiley sold for $107,000 at an auction in Knoxville.

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.

Catherine Wiley's style drifted toward abstract impressionism later in her career.