Marie Norton

Marie Norton Whitney Harriman (1903-1970) was a socialite who owned an art gallery.

Biography

She was born in 1903, her grandfather was Benjamin F. Einstein who was the attorney to the New York Times and a shareholder in several advertising companies whose main client was the Times. She was the first wife of Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney from 1923 to 1929, with whom she had two children, Harry Payne Whitney II and Nancy Marie Whitney. Her second marriage was to statesman W. Averell Harriman.

From 1930 to 1942 Marie Norton owned and operated an art gallery on 57th Street in Manhattan, the Marie Harriman Gallery^{[1] [2]}. Henri Matisse attended the glittering opening of the gallery, which featured important works of Derain, Gaugin, Van Gogh and Matisse ^[3]. Many of the works she bought and collected, including those of the artist Walt Kuhn, were later donated to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC ^[4].

Marie was a close friend of Marjorie Duchin, wife to bandleader Eddy Duchin, and when Marjorie died from complications in childbirth, Marie became surrogate mother to their son, Peter Duchin.

Marie Norton died September 26, 1970 at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, DC of a heart attack.^[5]

External links

• Photograph of President Harry Truman standing next to Marie Norton and W. Averell Harriman

References

1. ^ Walter Isaacson, The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made
2. ^ Nancy H. Yeide, "The Marie Harriman Gallery (1930-1942)", Archives of American Art Journal, Vol. 39, No. 1/2 (1999), pp. 3-11.
3. ^ "Art: Wall Man", Time (October 13 1930)
4. ^ "The Marie and Averell Harriman Collection", National Gallery of Art
5. ^ "Mrs. W. Averell Harriman Dies; Former Governor's Wife Was 67; Humor and Hospitality Aided Husband in His Numerous Government Assignments", New York Times (September 27, 1970), p.87

Persondata
Name	Norton, Marie
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Date of birth	1903
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Date of death	1970
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