Lady Nöel Evelyn Norton (née Hughes), known primarily by her nickname Peter, was born to English-Scottish parents in Bombay (now Mumbai), British India (now India) on 16 October 1891. Sent to Europe for her education, she later married the diplomat Sir Clifford Norton, who supported her artistic endeavours. In London Norton became a gallerist, opening the London Gallery in Cork Street in 1936, and an important patron of young and avant-garde artists and designers, with a particular interest in the German Bauhaus, prior to the outbreak of war; during the conflict she continued much of her activity, first from Poland (where her husband was posted) and then from the safety of neutral Switzerland.
Collector, gallerist, fundraiser, dealer, and patron of the arts, Lady Nöel Evelyn Norton (née Hughes), known primarily by her nickname Peter, was born to English-Scottish parents in Bombay (now Mumbai), British India (now India) on 16 October 1891. Her English father, Sir Walter Hughes, knighted for his services in British India, was a renowned engineer, with a road in Mumbai bearing his name, while her Scottish mother came from a military family stationed in India. Norton's family, which she described as ‘very early Victorian [...], every one of whom was of course interested in music, painting, and poetry’ (Norton quoted in Hedley, 2016) were steeped in the arts - both her great-grandfather and grandfather had paintings exhibited in London's Royal Academy of Arts.
Although Norton was born in India and initially taught by a governess, she later attended a day school in Bournemouth, England, then pursued her education in Switzerland before attending Bedford College, London. In 1927, she married the diplomat, Sir Clifford Norton. His wealth sustained her collecting and artistic patronage. Throughout the 1920s, she worked in the international department of W.S. Crawford’s advertising agency, London which actively employed women in important roles. Norton became embedded in the British and European art scene and swiftly became a patron of young and avant-garde artists. After befriending Herbert Bayer and Marcel Breuer - both students who transitioned into teaching roles at the Bauhaus art school - during a skiing trip, her fascination with the institution began to grow, and she subsequently became friends with Walter Gropius, the School's founder. This was indeed a formative moment; on the same skiing trip, she saw Vincent van Gogh’s Still Life with Quinces (1888), which instigated her love for the visual arts. Norton convinced the modern dancer Margaret Morris, despite the latter’s reluctance, to develop skiing drills in tandem with ski guide Hans Falkner and to publish them in the form of a book, while Falkner established the Obergurgl ski resort in Austria, which Norton regularly visited throughout her lifetime.
A further formative moment took place back in London. The International Surrealist Exhibition, held at the New Burlington Galleries on Cork Street in 1936, had a major impact on London’s modern art scene. Soon after the show closed, Norton, together with her cousin Marguerita Strettell, opened the London Gallery at 28 Cork Street. These new premises contributed to making Cork Street one of London’s most vibrant art spots. Peggy Guggenheim’s Guggenheim Jeune (which opened next door two years later), the Redfern Gallery, and the Mayor Gallery, were all nearby and active in the same period. Other key influences on Norton included Roland Penrose, who played a central role in organising the Surrealist exhibition, along with a roster of émigré artists who had immigrated to London from abroad, in flight from Nazi Germany, most notably Bayer and Breuer. Norton was resolute in her commitment to supporting artists via her gallery and, in her mission to disseminate artistic knowledge as widely as possible, she also established a library within its spaces. Modernists whom she supported included: the Bauhaus group, Edvard Munch, Naum Gabo, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Fernand Léger, René Magritte, Max Ernst, and Henry Moore.
In 1938, Norton sought to organise a show in response to the Nazi’s notorious Entartete Kunst [Degenerate Art] exhibition of 1937. However, she was prevented from doing so because of her husband’s diplomatic position. When he was dispatched to Warsaw to serve as Chargé d’affaires in late 1937, and she relocated with him, the gallery was sold to Penrose and then taken over by E.L.T. Mesens. Instead, the highly controversial First Exhibition of Twentieth Century German Art took place at the New Burlington Galleries in summer 1938. In Poland, Norton was a first-hand witness to Adolf Hitler’s invasion on 1 September 1939. When the war started, Norton organised escape routes for Polish refugees and British diplomats, often risking her own safety. After moving to neutral Switzerland, she began to sponsor the young English painter, John Craxton, along with a host of other artists who were creating there. In 1946, Clifford became British Ambassador to Greece. Norton followed him and started sponsoring Greek artists.
Although much of Norton’s personal collection was lost during the war years, she continued to collect emerging artists in the post-war period. She is among several early twentieth-century female patrons, including Ala Story and Erica Brausen, who helped to shape modern British art. Dealers who were women made pivotal changes to the business. They experimented with new exhibition formats, brought in new types of patrons, and transformed how art galleries supported artists. Norton is also remembered for her devotion to children’s charities. She was also a co-founder of the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, donating £20,000 to assist their move to The Mall. Lady Norton died in London, England on 25 July 1972.