The University of Tennessee Libraries has created a digital collection of drawings by artist Catherine Wiley, a notable American impressionist painter of the early 20th century. The collection comprises more than 150 of Wiley’s early works, illustrating her development as an artist. The pieces include figure drawings, pencil sketches, bookplate designs, as well as pen-and-ink illustrations
Anna Catherine Wiley (1879–1958) was born in Coal Creek, Tennessee, and moved to Knoxville at age three. Her family lived close to the current site of University of Tennessee’s James D. Hoskins Library. Her brother Edwin M. Wiley was the first salaried librarian at the university, serving in that position from 1891 to 1899.
Wiley enrolled at the University of Tennessee in 1895, only a few years after women were first admitted to the institution. Following her studies at the university, Wiley left Knoxville for New York, where she trained at the Art Students League and the New York School of Art. She returned to Knoxville to teach freehand drawing at the University of Tennessee from 1905 to 1918.