Higher Ground: A Century of the Visual Arts in East Tennessee December 27, 2009

The fascinating and complex story of our area's rich artistic heritage and its connections to the larger currents of American art are largely unknown, and certainly underappreciated. Highlights of the installation include important works by Catherine Wiley and Lloyd Branson, pioneering artists who introduced Knoxville audiences to Art Nouveau, Impressionism, and other international art movements of their day; Joseph and Beauford Delaney, two of America's most significant African-American artists; and works from the 1950s and 1960s by the Knoxville Seven, a group of progressive artists connected to the University of Tennessee who transformed and energized the area's artistic climate.