Pinajian grew up in an Armenian community in West Hoboken, New Jersey, and was a self-trained cartoonist. His parents survived the 1915 Armenian Genocide and then made their way to the United States. Pinajian's poetic color combinations are linked to the tonalities of his fellow Armenian, Arshile Gorky.
Career and legacy
Pinajian worked on many 1930s Centaur Publications titles and features, including 'Captain Juan', 'Egbert the Great', and 'Tim Roberts'. He subsequently joined Funnies Inc. Pinajian also drew 'Captain Terry Thunder' for Fiction House, 'Inspector Bancroft' for Fox Comics, 'The Wasp' for Lev Gleason Publications, and 'Jungle Terror' for Timely Comics. He was a regular at Quality Comics with 'Hooded Justice', 'Invisible Justice', 'Madam Fatal' and 'Reynolds of the Mounted'. In the 1950s he worked on Western stories for Atlas/Marvel. He served in the U.S. Army in World War II and received the Bronze Star Medal for valor. Pinajian also painted portraits, landscapes and some abstract works. He has been cited for his work inthe field of abstract expressionism. Pinajian had instructed that the works be thrown away when he died. His wishes were ignored, and $30 million worth of his art was found in the garage of the Bellport, Long Island home where Pinajian had lived from 1973 until his death in 1999. Two investors purchased the home in 2007 with the intent of renovating it, not knowing the art that was stored there. A collection of Arthur Pinajian's work, discovered in 2007, generated interest in the art community. A day school showed the paintings in March 2013. At the first gallery exhibit, one painting sold for $100,000, so far the highest price paid for one of Pinajian's paintings although works are usually listed for around $5,000. Thomas Schultz, who helped save the collection, is the full-time registrar. American art historian Peter Hastings Falk is the exhibitions director and chief curator and values the collection at around 30 million dollars. A 2015 book by Pinajian's cousin Pete Najarian, "The Paintings of Art Pinajian, A Family Story," alleges that Pinajian had verbally left his paintings to Najarian, but left no written will. The book seeks to prove that Pinajian never wanted his work “thrown into the garbage,” as was stated by Falk in his book, Pinajian, Master of Abstraction Discovered, which states, "Pinajian left instructions for his collection to be discarded in the town dump."
