Noted illustrator Albert Ararat Magarian was born May 28, 1915, East Saint Louis, Illinois. He was the third of five children born to Armanag Der Magarian and Gulvart R. Ovian.
Tragedy struck the Magarian family in 1916 when neighbors, who had operated a brothel that was closed down after Armanag had reported it to the police, took their revenge on him in a violent manner. Albert’s three-year old brother Alphonse was kidnapped for ransom and later found murdered.
Albert grew up to graduate from East Saint Louis High School. He then attended both Saint Louis University’s School of Fine Arts and Washington University prior to enrolling in the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, California.
It was at Otis that he met fellow art student Florence Lillian See, daughter of William and Mary (Dabney) See. Florence was born August 31, 1912, in Spokane, Washington, and attended Polytechnic High School in Los Angeles. They were married on May 25, 1937, in Los Angeles, and started a career as a husband and wife commercial art team. Their only child, Alan, was born on May 2, 1938.
Albert worked as an illustrator for Walt Disney Studios before the Magarians moved to Chicago, Illinois, and worked as a husband-and wife team of illustrators for the magazines "Amazing Stories" and "Fantastic Adventures" from 1942 through 1948. They used a stipple style “where each picture contained a decillion dots or more,” according to Florence. Albert drew the general outlines of each piece while Florence did the finishing work and added details.
By the end of World War II Albert and Florence had moved to his hometown of East Saint Louis to live. Sadly, the strain of the grinding art work and her constant fear that Albert would be taken from her to go to war proved too much for Florence. She suffered a nervous breakdown and was admitted to the mental hospital in Alton, Illinois, where she eventually died in 1960.
Albert owned and operated the Deluxe Theater in East Saint Louis for many years. He never gave up painting and devoted the last decades of his life to painting with watercolor and airbrush, producing many fine compositions with fantasy and biblical themes that he periodically displayed at local exhibitions. Albert passed away in East Saint Louis on May 1, 1991, and was laid to rest in the Mount Hope Cemetery at Belleville, Illinois.
Tragedy struck the Magarian family in 1916 when neighbors, who had operated a brothel that was closed down after Armanag had reported it to the police, took their revenge on him in a violent manner. Albert’s three-year old brother Alphonse was kidnapped for ransom and later found murdered.
Albert grew up to graduate from East Saint Louis High School. He then attended both Saint Louis University’s School of Fine Arts and Washington University prior to enrolling in the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, California.
It was at Otis that he met fellow art student Florence Lillian See, daughter of William and Mary (Dabney) See. Florence was born August 31, 1912, in Spokane, Washington, and attended Polytechnic High School in Los Angeles. They were married on May 25, 1937, in Los Angeles, and started a career as a husband and wife commercial art team. Their only child, Alan, was born on May 2, 1938.
Albert worked as an illustrator for Walt Disney Studios before the Magarians moved to Chicago, Illinois, and worked as a husband-and wife team of illustrators for the magazines "Amazing Stories" and "Fantastic Adventures" from 1942 through 1948. They used a stipple style “where each picture contained a decillion dots or more,” according to Florence. Albert drew the general outlines of each piece while Florence did the finishing work and added details.
By the end of World War II Albert and Florence had moved to his hometown of East Saint Louis to live. Sadly, the strain of the grinding art work and her constant fear that Albert would be taken from her to go to war proved too much for Florence. She suffered a nervous breakdown and was admitted to the mental hospital in Alton, Illinois, where she eventually died in 1960.
Albert owned and operated the Deluxe Theater in East Saint Louis for many years. He never gave up painting and devoted the last decades of his life to painting with watercolor and airbrush, producing many fine compositions with fantasy and biblical themes that he periodically displayed at local exhibitions. Albert passed away in East Saint Louis on May 1, 1991, and was laid to rest in the Mount Hope Cemetery at Belleville, Illinois.
Noted illustrator Albert Ararat Magarian was born May 28, 1915, East Saint Louis, Illinois. He was the third of five children born to Armanag Der Magarian and Gulvart R. Ovian.
Tragedy struck the Magarian family in 1916 when neighbors, who had operated a brothel that was closed down after Armanag had reported it to the police, took their revenge on him in a violent manner. Albert’s three-year old brother Alphonse was kidnapped for ransom and later found murdered.
Albert grew up to graduate from East Saint Louis High School. He then attended both Saint Louis University’s School of Fine Arts and Washington University prior to enrolling in the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, California.
It was at Otis that he met fellow art student Florence Lillian See, daughter of William and Mary (Dabney) See. Florence was born August 31, 1912, in Spokane, Washington, and attended Polytechnic High School in Los Angeles. They were married on May 25, 1937, in Los Angeles, and started a career as a husband and wife commercial art team. Their only child, Alan, was born on May 2, 1938.
Albert worked as an illustrator for Walt Disney Studios before the Magarians moved to Chicago, Illinois, and worked as a husband-and wife team of illustrators for the magazines "Amazing Stories" and "Fantastic Adventures" from 1942 through 1948. They used a stipple style “where each picture contained a decillion dots or more,” according to Florence. Albert drew the general outlines of each piece while Florence did the finishing work and added details.
By the end of World War II Albert and Florence had moved to his hometown of East Saint Louis to live. Sadly, the strain of the grinding art work and her constant fear that Albert would be taken from her to go to war proved too much for Florence. She suffered a nervous breakdown and was admitted to the mental hospital in Alton, Illinois, where she eventually died in 1960.
Albert owned and operated the Deluxe Theater in East Saint Louis for many years. He never gave up painting and devoted the last decades of his life to painting with watercolor and airbrush, producing many fine compositions with fantasy and biblical themes that he periodically displayed at local exhibitions. Albert passed away in East Saint Louis on May 1, 1991, and was laid to rest in the Mount Hope Cemetery at Belleville, Illinois.
Tragedy struck the Magarian family in 1916 when neighbors, who had operated a brothel that was closed down after Armanag had reported it to the police, took their revenge on him in a violent manner. Albert’s three-year old brother Alphonse was kidnapped for ransom and later found murdered.
Albert grew up to graduate from East Saint Louis High School. He then attended both Saint Louis University’s School of Fine Arts and Washington University prior to enrolling in the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, California.
It was at Otis that he met fellow art student Florence Lillian See, daughter of William and Mary (Dabney) See. Florence was born August 31, 1912, in Spokane, Washington, and attended Polytechnic High School in Los Angeles. They were married on May 25, 1937, in Los Angeles, and started a career as a husband and wife commercial art team. Their only child, Alan, was born on May 2, 1938.
Albert worked as an illustrator for Walt Disney Studios before the Magarians moved to Chicago, Illinois, and worked as a husband-and wife team of illustrators for the magazines "Amazing Stories" and "Fantastic Adventures" from 1942 through 1948. They used a stipple style “where each picture contained a decillion dots or more,” according to Florence. Albert drew the general outlines of each piece while Florence did the finishing work and added details.
By the end of World War II Albert and Florence had moved to his hometown of East Saint Louis to live. Sadly, the strain of the grinding art work and her constant fear that Albert would be taken from her to go to war proved too much for Florence. She suffered a nervous breakdown and was admitted to the mental hospital in Alton, Illinois, where she eventually died in 1960.
Albert owned and operated the Deluxe Theater in East Saint Louis for many years. He never gave up painting and devoted the last decades of his life to painting with watercolor and airbrush, producing many fine compositions with fantasy and biblical themes that he periodically displayed at local exhibitions. Albert passed away in East Saint Louis on May 1, 1991, and was laid to rest in the Mount Hope Cemetery at Belleville, Illinois.
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