NORTON, ALICE E. (1865-1958)

"Dry River Bed" (1890)
watercolour
45 x 77cm
signed lower left
*private collection, Sydney

Norton is a forgotten, pioneering Australian Impressionist. She studied privately in Sydney before pursuing training in Paris & worked predominantly as a Watercolourist, & was one of the leading exponents of the medium at the turn of the 20th century. In her early years she travelled through Europe to England, Wales & 'The Continent' with her friend, fellow Watercolourist, Gladys Owen, producing several works to send home. She was an early member of the Royal Art Society (one of the first female members), exhibiting with other exponents of the Heidelberg School of Australian Impressionism, Tom Roberts, Julian Ashton, Albert Fullwood & William Piguenit. She was also a pioneering member of the Society Of Artists when it split from the Royal Art Society in 1895, and exhibited in their inaugural exhibition. She was a pioneering & long-time member of the Society Of Women Painters in Sydney, where she exhibited regularly alongside her contemporaries, such as Gladys Owen, Laura Booth, Adelaide Perry, Frances Payne, Violet Teague & Bernice Edwell. She also exhibited several times with pioneering Australian female artist, female rights activist & President of the Society, Ethel Anna Stephens, who was her cousin. In 1901, she exhibited at the Commonwealth Exhibition of Art in Sydney, and in 1907, she exhibited at the important Federal Exhibition in Adelaide at the Art Gallery Of South Australia alongside Hans Heysen, Florence Fuller, Clara Southern, John Ford Paterson & Will Ashton. She also exhibited with the Queensland Art Society in 1898. According to the Sunday Times in 1922, "Miss Norton's landscapes are gay & cheery enough to brighten the lives of the most melancholy collectors". Her work is represented in several important institutions, with the Art Gallery Of NSW holding two of her watercolours.