Born in Derry, Norah McGuinness attended the Metropolitan School of Art, Dublin, Chelsea Polytechnic, London, and studied under cubist painter André Lhote in Paris in 1929. McGuinness was a founder member of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art and served as President from 1944 until 1972. She represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale in 1950. A major retrospective exhibition of her work was held at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1968. She was part of the IMMA exhibition ‘Analysing Cubism’ in 2013.