Born in Boston, William Norton became a noted marine painter, stirred by his youth when he sailed on family-owned ships. He studied at the Lowell Institute in Boston, and with George Inness, and then established a studio in Boston.

In the early 1870s, he went to Paris and became a student with Chevreuse and A. Vollon, and then he settled in London where he exhibited throughout the last quarter of the 19th century. His reputation there was based on his scenes of the Thames River, and ocean and coastal views.

In 1901, he and his wife returned to the United States and settled in New York City. He also painted at Monhegan Island, Maine, where a treacherous ledge on the southern side of the island is named "Norton's Ledge" for him.

He was a member of the Boston Art Club with whom he exhibited from 1873 to 1909. He also exhibited with the Pennsylvania Academy, the Royal Academy in London, the Paris Salon, the 1893 Chicago Exposition, and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Source: Who Was Who in American Art by Peter Falk

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.

Norton exhibited at these additional venues:

-Royal Academy - London 1878
-Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition - 1876
-Corcoran Gallery of Art
-Boston Mechanics Fair - 1878
-Cincinnati Industrial Exposition
-San Francisco Art Association
-American Society of Painters in Watercolor
-Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association
-Chicago Interstate Industrial Exposition

Source: American Art Smithsonian American Art Museum Website and exhibition records

Submitted by: Wayne Kielsmeier