Norcross, Eleanor Augusta, 1854-1923 (American artist, Wheaton Class of 1872)
biographical statement
Eleanor Norcross was born and educated in Fitchburg, MA, graduated from Wheaton Seminary in 1872 and studied art under the noted portraitist William M. Chase in New York. She migrated to Paris in 1894 and was the student of Alfred Stevens (Belgian colorist). Puvis de Chavannes was a great influence on Eleanor and encouraged her to exhibit her work in the Salon. Eleanor Norcross (1854–1923) was an exceptional woman artist in the 19th century. The majority of her life had been spent living and painting in Paris, but her heart was always in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. She left her work and her fortune to found an art museum (Fitchburg Art Museum) and teaching center in her beloved hometown of Fitchburg. When she died of cancer in 1923, at Pearl Hill, Fitchburg, the Norcross summer house, she'd already shipped back numerous barrels and trunks of priceless decorative arts, the future inventory of her museum d'espagne. Eleanor painted a series of views of galleries that summarized the history of decorative arts in France. In 1924 an exhibit of her work was shown at the Louvre and at the Salon d’Automne. Fourteen of her works are held in the pernament collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. She died on October 19, 1923.