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Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on March 7, 1887, Norman Stiles Chamberlain began his art training in his early teens under Mathias J Alten. Chamberlain joined Alten and his family on a voyage to Europe on the Camparia on August 24, 1910; first to study his craft in Paris then on to the Hague School of Dutch Artists, he spent 1910-11 working in the Netherlands amidst the settings favored by the Maris brothers, Jozef Israëls, Willem Roelofs, and even Vincent van Gogh and Piet Mondriaan‘s early work before moving to Laguna Beach and Los Angeles, CA in 1918. Mr. Chamberlain’s first painting in Laguna Beach is called North of Laguna painted in 1914. Mr. Chamberlain was very active in the Los Angeles, Palm Springs and Laguna Beach Art Communities as well as Taos, New Mexico. Working with Alson Clark and exhibiting locally, success came almost immediately through the patronage of Mrs. Henry E. Huntington, the force behind the collection at the Huntington Library. After traveling in Mexico and spending a year in France at the Académie Matisse, he lived briefly in Taos, NM before settling in Laguna Beach, CA where he lived for his remaining years.

Mary Pottenger Chamberlain is a descendent of Artist and Inventor Robert Fulton and Norman Stiles Chamberlain is a descendant of John Alden and William Brewster, Mayflower Compact members.

“Twenty-five years ago Norman S. Chamberlain … won a five-dollar first prize offered by The Grand Rapids Herald for the best painting done by a school child of a picture appearing in the newspaper. Then and there Norman Chamberlain confided to his parents and friends that he’d given up wanting to be a streetcar conductor or a circus performer. Instead he was going to be an artist. … At present his home is in Pasadena, Cal.”

– G.R. Herald (June 3, 1923) comments on Huntington prize just won in 1923.

Awards and Recognition Mrs. Henry Huntington Award, 1923, Adobe Flores Smithsonian Institute, Jewel of the Smithsonian, Corn Dance, Taos, NM and WPA Mural Panel, Shipping and Construction, Huntington Park, California Post Office L.A. County Museum, Relay Race at Taos Pueblo, 1934 Los Angeles Museum Exhibition Park, May 4- June 4, 1923 American Magazine, 1925

Instructors, Mentors and Patrons Mathias Alten, Chamberlain traveled to Europe with Alten’s family for 18 months around 1910 Studied in France at School of Matisse in the 1920s Alson Clark, mentor Nicholi Fechin, NSC traveled with and lived with NF in Taos, NM before coming to California, good friends. George Hurrell, now famous for his Hollywood Star photography, Chamberlain helped him get his start in Laguna. Notes show Mrs. Henry Huntington paid NSC to travel to Mexico to paint for her benefit WPA Wall Murals Smithsonian recognized WPA 1934 Treasury Relief Art Project in Huntington Park Post Office Mural plus four other murals in Selma, California, Riverside High School.