The Knoxville Museum of Art with the help of donors purchased a 99-year-old painting by Tennessee impressionist Anna Catherine Wiley, a $107,000 transaction that an antiques appraiser said ranks as a record for a painting by a female Tennessee artist.
Wiley's 1913 untitled painting portrays a young mother and child seated in a sun-drenched meadow.
The Knoxville News Sentinel reported the sale was Saturday at the Winter Case Antiques Auction. (http://bit.ly/ylMWnU)
Case Antiques Auctions and Appraisals vice president Sarah Campbell Drury said the $107,000 is a "world auction record for a painting by a female Tennessee artist."
Wiley was born in Coal Creek ? now Lake City ? and helped start the University of Tennessee's art department.
She suffered a mental breakdown, was placed in an institution in 1926 and never painted again. Wiley remained hospitalized until her death in 1958.
Drury said the museum "encountered stiff competition from serious collectors and dealers of American art bidding by phone from as far away as New York and Palm Beach, Fla."
David Butler, executive director of the Knoxville Museum of Art, said securing the winning bid was a top priority given Wiley's East Tennessee ties, the quality of the painting and the limited number of her known works.
"Catherine Wiley was not prolific, and her paintings rarely come on the market," Butler said. "This is one of her greatest works, from her best period, and shows why she is ranked among America's premier impressionists. We are pleased and grateful that this masterpiece will stay here."
Museum curator Stephen Wicks said Wiley is a seminal historical figure in East Tennessee art.
"She was not just a fabulously talented painter, but an artistic leader in East Tennessee," Wicks said. "In her relatively brief career, she reshaped the artistic landscape of East Tennessee."
Butler said the painting wasn't even known to exist until a local unnamed seller put it up for auction.
"She didn't paint all that long and there was not a big body of her work," Butler said. "Nobody even knew this painting existed. This is such an appealing painting, and is perfect in so many ways. One of our major goals is to present art from this part of the world. We knew we wouldn't get this chance again."
Butler said 24 donors pledged a total of $120,000 to purchase the Wiley painting. One local unnamed couple donated 50 percent of the purchase cost, he said.
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Information from: The Knoxville News Sentinel, http://www.knoxnews.com
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