The latest issue of Bitter Southerner features an article titled by Shane Mitchell, highlighting 麻豆社 University Museum of Art鈥檚 (OUMA) spring exhibition Fragile Genius: Catherine Wiley and Beauford Delaney. The exhibition was curated by John Daniel Tilford with contributions by Ariel Saah 鈥�25, Ten10 Curatorial Intern for Diversity in Museum Leadership.
Mitchell鈥檚 piece, which also ran in the print edition of Bitter Southerner, is a storytelling that deepens the conversation around both of these artists, ensuring that their struggles and their art are remembered as part of history.
Though their lives unfolded in different eras, Wiley and Delaney shared striking parallels: both were nurtured by Knoxville mentor Lloyd Branson, both achieved national recognition for their work, and both struggled with mental illness throughout their lives.
Wiley, among the first instructors of the University of Tennessee鈥檚 Fine Arts Department, gained acclaim for her luminous canvases before her declining health led to lifelong institutional care. Delaney, celebrated for his vibrant portraits and abstract works, rose to prominence in New York and Paris and counted James Baldwin among his closest friends, yet also spent his final years in care abroad.
This exhibition sought to honor their artistry with dignity and nuance, offering new scholarship that brings fresh understanding to their legacies. Mitchell鈥檚 article continues that work, keeping alive the stories of two extraordinary voices in American art.
