RW Norton Art Foundation: the basics

Norton landscapes / Talbot
Originally uploaded by trudeau

In the early 1920's, Richard W. Norton (1886-1940) became one of the discoverers of the Rodessa Oil Field in north Louisiana, says the foundation web site, Rwnaf.org.

Over time, Mr. Norton's wife and son began to amass a significant collection of fine art. In 1946, to honor Mr. Norton and for the benefit of the community, Richard W. Norton, Jr. (1919-1974) and his mother, Mrs. Richard W. Norton (1886-1975) created the R.W. Norton Art Foundation. In turn, the Foundation eventually established the R.W. Norton Art Gallery, basing its initial collection upon donations from the acquisitions of the Nortons.


The R.W. Norton Art Gallery houses incomparable collections of American and European paintings, sculptures and decorative arts spanning more than four centuries. Since its opening in 1966, the museum has become particularly well-known around the country for its impressive collections of works by those titans of western art, Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell.