Kero Sarkis Antoyan

Kero Sarkis Antoyan was born in 1912 in Dersim, Turkey of Armenian heritage. Antoyan’s father escaped persecution by leaving for America, but had to leave his wife and children behind. The family lived amongst the Kurdish population for protection, but four year-old Antoyan ran away and returned to his village, where he lived with his maternal grandmother and his aunt. After the Armenian genocide of 1915-1918, Antoyan, his grandmother and aunt, were the only survivors from his family. The group escaped to Kharpent in Western Turkey and then on to refugee camps in Aleppo, Syria & Beirut, Lebanon, eventually finding safe haven in Marseille, France. There, he began to study art. He immigrated to the United States in 1934 and continued his studies at the Art Student’s League in New York, where he studied with Arnold Blanche. During WWII, he was stationed in Southern California and remained there after the war, enrolling in the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles. In 1955, he became an instructor of drawing at the Chouinard Art Institute. He also opened a photography studio in Hollywood, California, that catered to aspiring actors and actresses. He traveled to Europe for further instruction in 1962-63, studying at the Accademia de Belle Arti in Rome. He won numerous prizes, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Award in 1957. He exhibited with the Laguna Beach Art Association, as well. His work can be found in the collections of the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena CA, the Laguna Beach Museum, Laguna Beach, CA, among others. There is a book dedicated to Antoyan’s paintings, called “Kero S. Antoyan: The Artist’s Life and Work by Janet Samuelian”, Haigazian College University, Beirut, Lebanon, 1988. Antoyan died at the age of 81 in 1993.