Artist

William E. Norton

born Boston, MA 1843-died New York City 1916
Media - 1982.1.31 - SAAM-1982.1.31_1 - 49068
William Penhallow Henderson, Portrait of William E. Norton, 1901, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Alice H. Rossin, 1982.1.31
Also known as
  • William Edward Norton
  • William Norton
  • W. E. Norton
Born
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Died
New York, New York, United States
Nationalities
  • American
Biography

William E. Norton worked as a housepainter in Boston and studied drawing in the evenings at Lowell Institute. He spent several summers on the coast of Maine, trying to capture “the effect of making finished pictures out-of-doors, instead of making sketches.” (Chicago Daily Tribune, July 31, 1893) Norton traveled around Europe, studying and exhibiting his work, and won several prizes for marine painting.