11 Facts About Dorothy Norman

Dorothy Norman was an American photographer, writer, editor, arts patron and advocate for social change.

Dorothy Norman attended Smith College, then transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, remaining there from 1922 until her 1925 marriage.

Dorothy Norman's life was motivated by "a desire to advance both art and action".

Dorothy Norman actively cultivated an interest in people who were involved with either the artistic arena or efforts at increasing social equity.

Dorothy Norman never worked as a professional photographer; instead, she captured images of friends, loved ones and prominent figures in the arts and in politics.

Dorothy Norman photographed special sites, trees, harbors, churches and buildings.

Dorothy Norman created an extended portrait study of Stieglitz.

Dorothy Norman was a founding member of New York City's Liberal Party and a member of the Americans for Democratic Action, and served on the boards of both the New York Urban League and the National Urban League.

Dorothy Norman wrote a weekly column for the New York Post and for ten years edited and published the literary and social activist journal Twice a Year, whose contributors included Richard Wright, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre and Bertolt Brecht.

Dorothy Norman chose provocative aphorisms by contemporary and historical writers, male and female, and from various cultures, to accompany the thematic groups of photographs in sections of MoMA's world-touring exhibition The Family of Man for its curator Edward Steichen, a long-term associate of Alfred Stieglitz.

Dorothy Norman wrote or edited numerous books, including The Selected Writings of John Marin ; Nehru: The First Sixty Years, a two-volume collection of the Indian leader's writings; Alfred Stieglitz: An American Seer, the first full-length biography of the American modernist; and Indira Gandhi: Letters to an American Friend.