| Norah Sharpe Stone | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 6, 1938 Alberta, Canada |
| Died | September 6, 2019 California |
Norah Sharpe Stone (August 6, 1938 – September 6, 2019) was a Canadian-born American philanthropist, vintner, and collector of modern and contemporary art, interests she shared with husband Norman C. Stone.
Biography
Norah Sharpe was born in Golden Valley, Alberta, Canada. She earned a nursing degree from the University of Alberta and later a law degree from the San Francisco Law School. She also pursued art studies at the Sorbonne in Paris and the Academy of Art in San Francisco. She has held positions in nursing as well as corporate law.
In 1986, she married philanthropist and fellow art connoisseur Norman C. Stone. Since their marriage, the Stones have collected major works of contemporary and modern art. Their private collection, divided between residences in San Francisco and the Napa Valley, feature artists such as Jan de Cock, Robert Gober, Jeff Koons, Cady Noland, Richard Prince, Richard Serra, Keith Tyson, Christopher Wool, Andy Warhol, Marcel Duchamp, Hans Bellmer and Tony Conrad.
The Stones' Napa Valley wine estate, Stonescape, features a 5,750-square-foot (534 m) art cave designed by Bade Stageberg Cox as well as a pool and pavilion designed by James Turrell. The landscape was designed by Tom Leader
Stonescape is located in the Diamond Mountain District AVA of the Napa Valley appellation. Throughout the 1990s, the property produced critically acclaimed merlot wines under the Azalea Springs label. The Stones replanted the vineyard in 2000 with premium cabernet sauvignon vines producing wine under the AZS label with the intention of bottling future vintages under the Stonescape Wines label.
Stone was a trustee of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and a member of the National Committee of the Whitney Museum in New York, and the Tate International Council in London. She was also a trustee of the W. Clement & Jessie V. Stone Foundation. Stone was honored as one of San Francisco's best dressed citizens in 2007 by San Francisco Magazine. The Stones have been listed in Art News Top 200 Collectors.
Norah Sharpe Stone died in 2019, aged 81, in California.
References
- Writer, Jesse Hamlin, Chronicle Staff (2000-04-16). "For the Love of Art / Bay Area gaining international recognition for its increasing number of art collectors". SFGATE. Retrieved 2023-02-03.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Zinko, Carolyne. "In a Wine Country cave, couple builds one-of-a-kind museum," San Francisco Chronicle, December 3, 2007.
- Viladas, Pilar (2007-12-02). "Insider Art". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-02-03.
- Spurrier, Steven, "Spurrier's choice: Best New World Red." Decanter Magazine, May 2002.
- "Annual California Best of the Best: California Merlot," Quarterly Review of Wines. Summer 2000. 58.
- "Best of the Bay Area," San Francisco Magazine, September 2007.
- Desmarais, Charles (September 11, 2019). "Norah Stone, San Francisco philanthropist and art collector, dies at 81". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
- "Norah Stone, Prominent Bay Area Collector and Philanthropist, Has Died at 81". 12 September 2019.