John W. Norton
American artist (1876–1934)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Warner Norton (7 March 1876 – 7 January 1934) was an American painter and muralist who pioneered the field in the United States.
John Warner Norton | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 7, 1876 |
| Died | January 7, 1934 (aged 57) |
| Education | Harvard University, Art Institute of Chicago |
| Known for | Painter and muralist |
| Parents |
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Norton was born in Lockport, Illinois, the son of John Lyman Norton and Ada Clara Gooding Norton. The family ran the Norton & Co. of Lockport. Norton's study of law at Harvard University was broken off when the family's firm went bankrupt. Before, and after a period of living as a cowboy and enlisting with the Rough Riders, he studied art at the Art Institute of Chicago (1897, 1899–1901); he would later teach there. His students included Frances Badger.[1] He was influenced by the Armory Show and the Japanese printmaker Katsushika Hokusai.
Among his works are the landmark 1929 180-foot (55 m) long ceiling mural for the concourse of the old Chicago Daily News Building (mural not currently installed in this building, which has been renamed Riverside Plaza; designed by architects Holabird & Root, 1929); the Ceres mural in the Chicago Board of Trade Building (Holabird & Root, 1930); two large murals, "Old South" and "New South" commissioned by Holabird & Root for the Jefferson County Courthouse in Birmingham, Alabama; his Tavern Club murals at the 333 North Michigan Ave. building, Chicago (Holabird & Root, 1928); his American Heritage Series at the Hamilton Park Field House, 513 W. 72nd St., Chicago; four murals at the St. Paul, Minnesota city hall; twelve murals comprising The History of Mankind (1923) at the Logan Museum of Anthropology at Beloit College, in Wisconsin; and his first major mural in Chicago's Cliff Dwellers Club (1909), where he was a founding member.
Norton was married and had a son and two daughters. At the time of his death on January 7, 1934, in Charleston, South Carolina of cancer,[2] he was a popular and respected artist.
Ceres (1930)
"Keep these off the U.S.A", World War I Liberty Bonds poster
December 1902 cover of The Inland Printer magazine
Honors
- William M. R. French memorial Gold Medal (1924)
- Norman Waite Harris Bronze Medal (1926)[2]
- honorary Master of Fine Arts from the Art Institute of Chicago
- Gold Medal of Honor for Mural Painting from the Architectural League of New York (1931), for his paintings in the Tavern Club in Chicago.[2]
