The young Emmanuel received the first artistic notions from his maternal grandfather, Bernard Durieux, a lawyer and amateur painter.

In 1835 Noterman moved to Antwerp, where, under the guidance and with the advice of Pierre Kremer, he changed to the painting of genre scenes.

[3] Noterman trained a few students, of whom the best-known are Jean Pierre François Lamorinière, Ernest Slingeneyer and Jan Stobbaerts.

[6] Like many other artists in Antwerp at the time such as Joseph Lies and Ernest Slingeneyer, Noterman became a member of the loge of freemasons La Persévérance.

[9][10] Noterman created a number of singeries, paintings and etchings of monkeys engaging in human activities.