Description:
This piece - perhaps a bookend - is in the shape of a pair of oversized blue painted pansies and colored with paints. The base and the flat back of the bookend are painted in rust-colored paint. It is incised at the bottom of the back, "Marcia Gaylord Norman/ Old Deerfield/ Massachusetts." It was created by Marcia Gaylord Norman (1915-1985), the wife of Edward "Ted" Norman (1911-2005). This collection of objects was owned by Stephen Maniatty, a painter who lived in Deerfield, MA. Marcia Gaylord Norman was born in Holyoke, MA, in 1915, and attended Abott Academy in Andover, MA, and studied sculpture for three years at the Museum School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. She also attended Smith College where she studied botany and began a lifelong interest in plants. During her lifetime, her illustrations appeared in many books about New England coastal wetlands and sealife. Many of her illustrations are in the collection of the Atwood House Museum of the Chatham Historical Society. Her husband, Edward "Ted" Norman's obituary in the Cape Cod Times, of October 7, 2005, reads: "Edward d'Aubigne Norman, 94 Artist veteran fire chiefin Chatham, Deerfield CHATHAM - Edward d'Aubigne ''Ted'' Norman, 94, died Saturday at Epoch Senior Healthcare of Brewster.He was the husband of Marcia Gaylord Norman, who died in 1985.Mr. Norman was born in Toronto. He served with the Navy Seabees on Guam, Tinian and Okinawa, and at Dutch Harbor and other bases during World War II.A self-employed artist, he and his wife lived for many years in Deerfield. Together they created many illustrations of beach flora and marine life for ''The Winter Beach,'' ''The Atlantic Shore,'' ''The Sandy Shore,'' ''Seaweeds of Cape Cod and the Islands'' and ''Beachcombers Botany.'' Their botanical drawings are in the permanent collection of the Hunt Botanical Library at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh.He was also former chief of the Deerfield and Chatham fire departments.Survivors include six nieces, Marina Galameaux of Brewster, Eva Jane Norman-Vestergaard of London, Ontario, Grace Marie MacAuley of Lucan, Ontario, Fay Ann Norman-Lemieux of Orleans, Ontario, Barbara Norman of North Vancouver, British Columbia, and Judy New of Scarborough, Ontario and a nephew, Walter J. Norman of Toronto."
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2012.5.8 |
