Background

Arthur Pinajian was born on March 28, 1914, in West Hoboken, New Jersey, United States (now Union City, New Jersey, United States). He was the son of Armenian holocaust survivors, Vartanoosh, a skilled embroiderer, and her husband Hagop. He had a sister.

Education

Arthur Pinajian was a precocious youngster who excelled in school and skipped grades. At the same time, he showed excellent skills in drawing. He graduated in 1930, during the Great Depression, and took a clerical job to support his family, since his father was out of a job. His mother passed away two years later, and he moved his father and sister to Long Island.

Career

Pinajian started drawing comic strips, and he was hired as a freelance cartoonist by Lud Shabazian, a reporter-illustrator at the New York Daily News. He took some lessons at the Art Students League and became a pioneer in comic book creation, being active from the late 1930s throughout the 1950. He worked on many titles and features of Centaur Publications in the 1930s, including "Captain Juan," "Egbert the Great," and "Tim Roberts," and subsequently joined Funnies, Inc. He also drew characters for Fiction House, Fox Comics, Lev Gleason Publications, and Timely Comics. Pinajian created the characters Madame Fatal and the Invisible Hood (also known as Hooded Justice and Invisible Justice) for Quality Comics, and worked on Western stories for Atlas/Marvel in the 1950s.

Arthur served in the United States Army in World War II. He also fought with the Ozark Division in the Battle of the Bulge. His division led a deceptive movement to the south to prevent the Germans from taking advantage of a weakness in the line. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his actions. Thanks to the G.I. Bill, he was able to take lessons at the Art Students League and was drawn to the works of old and modern art masters, and endlessly roamed through the Manhattan museums and art galleries. For the last 26 years of his life, Pinajian devoted his life completely to art, living in a tiny room.

Achievements

• Arthur Pinajian was an unrecognized artist. The majority of Pinajian’s work was found stacked up in the one-car garage and attic of the property. Along with the art were found his journals, many letters, and sketch books that spanned the 50 years of his creative life.
  
  The buyers paid an extra $2,500 for the art collection and set about restoring it. The pieces included abstract expressionist paintings, landscapes, sketches from the Second World War, illustrations for 1930s comic books, and images from the 1960 Woodstock artist colonies. In all, there were more than 3,000 paintings, drawings and illustrations.
  
  At the first gallery exhibit in March 2013, one painting sold for $100,000, the highest price paid for one of Pinajian’s paintings so far. The specialists has valued the collection at around 30 million dollars.
  
  Arthur Pinajian also created the Quality Comics characters Madame Fatal and the Invisible Hood, also known as Hooded Justice and Invisible Justice.
  
  

Works

More photos

• painting

  • Untitled Landscape, Woodstock (No.3876)

    1960

  • Untitled

    1960

  • Untitled Landscape, Woodstock (No.4398)

    1962

  • Untitled Landscape, Woodstock (No.D153)

    1962

  • Untitled Landscape, Woodstock (No.414)

    1964

  • Untitled Landscape, Woodstock (No.42)

    1970

  • Untitled Landscape, Bellport (No.347)

    1982

  • Untitled Landscape, Bellport (No.243)

    1984

  • Untitled Landscape, Bellport (No.942)

    1984

  • Untitled Landscape, Bellport (No.1137)

    1984

  • Untitled Landscape, Bellport (No.1168)

    1984

  • Untitled Landscape, Bellport (No.0001)

    1985

  • Untitled Landscape, Bellport (No.257)

    1987

  • Untitled Landscape, Bellport (No.224)

    1989

  • Untitled Landscape, Bellport (No.256)

    1990

  • Untitled Landscape, Bellport (No.1042)

    1991

  • Untitled Landscape, Bellport (No.732)

    1992

Membership

Arthur Pinajian was a member of the Eisner-Iger Studio and of Funnies, Inc.

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• Peter Hastings Falk: "He painted every day but no one saw his art. He received no reviews and not one of his paintings or works on paper ever was shown in a New York gallery or museum."
  
  Aram Aramian: "When we went to the house he was always laughing and joking and talking about the old times and about the relatives and he took a general interest in my family. He was really pleasant. He had a good nature about him. But all he wanted to do was paint — paint, paint, paint. Morning, noon, and night. Every day. Three hundred and sixty five days out of the year."
  
  John Perreault: "Pinajian found no easy answers. Each painting is a puzzle and a struggle, yielding light."

Connections

Father:

Hagob Pinajian

Mother:

Varanoosh Pinajian

Cousin:

Aram Aramian

Cousin:

Peter Najarian

Sister:

Armen Pinajian

References

• The Paintings of Art Pinajian The Paintings of Art Pinajian, A Family Story, is an illustrated non-fiction novel about an Armenian-American painter whose work sold for a fortune after he died, though he lived on the edge of poverty.
  2015