Norman Carton was born in Ukraine, on January 7th, 1908. In 1922, his family settled in Philadelphia. As a teen, he studied at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art. He would later study at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. During his term there, he studied abroad in Paris, taking inspiration from the likes of Picasso, Matisse, etc. While there, he showed at the Salon and exhibited solo at the Sorbonne. He participated in theater design for the Paris Opera. Upon his return to the United States during World War II, he took courses at the Barnes Foundation. Later, he would co-found a textile production plant in Philadelphia. But Carton was not satisfied in his artistic journey. He decided to become a full time artist and he is most known for his abstract expressionist works. He is known for his use of color and command of a canvas. He went on to exhibit at a long list of shows with fellow abstract artists and would later teach.