Charles Frank Prees Norton was born in New Zealand in 1916. Norton arrived in Australia with his family in 1917. He studied with Fred Leist between 1931 and 1936 and in London in 1939. He was appointed a Second World War official war artist with the RAN and the RAAF, and later appointed as official war artist in the Korean War. After the war he taught at the East Sydney Technical College between 1945 and 1958. He then became director of the Art Gallery of Western Australia between 1958 and 1976. As Director he concentrated mainly on building up the contemporary, Aboriginal and sculpture collections.