John Warner Norton was an Illinois muralist and easel artist who pioneered the field in the United States. Among his works are the landmark 1929 180-foot (55 m) long ceiling mural for the concourse ceiling of the Chicago Daily News Building (not currently installed in this building which has been renamed), the Ceres mural in the Chicago Board of Trade Building (1930), his Tavern Club (Chicago) murals, his American Heritage Series at the Hamilton Park Field House, 513 W. 72nd St., Chicago, 4 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 the Cliff Dwellers’ Club (1909).
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 the 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 was influenced by the Armory Show and the Japanese printmaker Katsushika Hokusai. At the time of his death in Charleston, South Carolina of cancer, he was a popular and respected artist.
The last works of John Warner Norton’s life were for the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition: a large mural of the Tree of Knowledge for the façade of the Hall of Sciences and five smaller murals for the interior, in which the shapes are simplified almost to abstractions. The Tree, also produced as a poster, was a multi-colored design in the form of a chart, with the names of the basic sciences on the roots, and applications of sciences on the limbs.
Among his works are the landmark 1929 180-foot (55 m) long ceiling mural for the concourse ceiling of the Chicago Daily News Building (not currently installed in this building which has been renamed), the Ceres mural in the Chicago Board of Trade Building (1930), his Tavern Club (Chicago) murals, his American Heritage Series at the Hamilton Park Field House, 513 W. 72nd St., Chicago, 4 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 the Cliff Dwellers’ Club (1909).
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 the 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 was influenced by the Armory Show and the Japanese printmaker Katsushika Hokusai. At the time of his death in Charleston, South Carolina of cancer, he was a popular and respected artist.
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_W._Norton
