Paul N. Norton was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 artist

Artist

An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

. The son of a railway clerk, Norton painted more than 500 watercolors in his career, and also created many memorable logos

Logos

' is an important term in philosophy, psychology, rhetoric and religion. Originally a word meaning "a ground", "a plea", "an opinion", "an expectation", "word," "speech," "account," "reason," it became a technical term in philosophy, beginning with Heraclitus ' is an important term in...

 for companies such as Dairy Queen

Dairy Queen

Dairy Queen, often abbreviated DQ, is a chain of soft serve and fast food restaurants owned by International Dairy Queen, Inc, who also owns Orange Julius and Karmelkorn. The name "Dairy Queen" is taken from the name of their soft serve product, which the company refers to as "Dairy Queen" or...

, Pella Windows

Pella (company)

Pella Corporation is a privately held window and door manufacturing company with manufacturing operations across the United States, whose products for residential and commercial construction are sold across North America and in other select countries. The company was founded in 1925...

, and others. His paintings can be found hanging in the White House

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

, U.S. Capitol, the Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

 Governor's Mansion, and Tahoma Vista Village among others.

Painting

While Paul N. Norton won prestigious national commissions and traveled extensively in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, he may be best remembered as a master of the familiar. He painted subjects near and dear to himself and the fellow members of his midwest community known as the Quad Cities

Quad Cities

The Quad Cities is a group of five cities straddling the Mississippi River on the Iowa–Illinois boundary. These cities, Davenport and Bettendorf and Rock Island, Moline, and East Moline , are the center of the Quad Cities Metropolitan Area, which, as of 2010, had an estimated population of...

 - Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

 scenes, local historic landmarks, churches, schools, and parks. His paintings were reproduced by the thousands, often as part of local business promotions for a public eager to own a piece of his artwork.
His most popular works include paintings of the Delta Queen

Delta Queen

The Delta Queen is an American sternwheel steamboat that is a U.S. National Historic Landmark. Historically, she has been used for cruising the major rivers that constitute the drainage of the Mississippi River, particularly in the American South. As of June 2009, she is docked in Chattanooga,...

, Lone Star, and Quinlan riverboats, the Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial is an American memorial built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The architect was Henry Bacon, the sculptor of the main statue was Daniel Chester French, and the painter of the interior...

 and U.S. Capitol Buildings. His first federally commissioned work was presented to Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

 in 1971, and he went on to share an audience with President Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

in 1981 while presenting a painting of the White House.

Personal life

Paul married Lucy McClean in 1935 and started a family that included two sons, John and Nile, and a daughter, Lynn. 1935 also brought the first sale of one of his paintings, a work called "Clearing the Way" which focused on a snow plow opening up a cold, lonely Iowa road.

Paul N. Norton's paintings span a wide range of subjects from across the globe. But his greatest gift was in capturing the essence of life in a community on the Mississippi River, and his legacy lives on in his art that is enjoyed throughout the world to this day.

External links