Artist William Norman was born on August 7, 1904, in Duluth, Minnesota, the older of two children of Walter and Nellie Norman. He grew up in a home at 4127 West Fourth Street. Following his graduation from Denfeld High School in 1923, he studied at the School of the Minneapolis Art Institute, the Chicago Art Institute, and the New York Academy of Design.

He was employed from 1923 to 1925 as an illustrator for the Duluth Herald, from 1928 to 1929 as an illustrator for the New York American, and from 1929 to 1931 at the Wisconsin News in Milwaukee. During 1932 and 1933, he embarked on a sketching tour of Mexico.

In 1933, he was employed as an artist by the Public Works of Art Project in both Minneapolis and Duluth. He worked there for two years, and was at the same time hired as an illustrator for various magazines and businesses in both cities. During this time, he completed the lithographs of Duluth displayed here. These strong images portray the city in interesting and creative perspective.

In 1935, the Federal Arts Project of the Works Progress Administration began funding the Duluth Art Center, located in the Dodge Block at 405 East Superior Street. Norman became director of the Center and remained in that job until the Center closed in 1943. One of three community art centers in Minnesota, the Duluth Art Center offered free classes to artists and to the general public.

Following the closing of the Center, he worked as a teacher and artist in the Duluth area. Around 1957, he accepted a job as art director for the Bureau of Engraving, Inc., a printing, lithography, and photo engraving business in Minneapolis. He retired from that job in the middle 1960s. He moved to Mexico to continue his artistic endeavors and died in Arizona in August of 1980.

Roundhouse