Albert Dorne

Founder of The Famous Artist School

Albert Dorne was born on February 7, 1906, in New York, New York. Tuberculosis, heart disease, malnutrition, poverty, and abandonment (by his father) marred Dorne’s childhood.

A nine-year-old Dorne decided to pursue art as a way to reverse his family’s fortunes. He would repeatedly ditch school to draw at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Dorne‘s teachers—who recognized his talent and drive—allowed it. Folks at the Met—including the guards who liked this artsy kid from the slums—encouraged it.

Starting at the age of twelve, Dorne found work as a newsboy, a milkman’s aid, a dock worker, and more. Just before becoming a professional boxer (fighting in Madison Square Garden of all places), he worked in a factory painting faces on dolls.

After losing his first boxing match by knock out (he had won his prior ten), Dorne turned his attention to illustration. “I went to [Alexander Rice] who ran a one-man art studio,” he said, “and offered to work for nothing as an office boy while I learned the business. The ‘nothing’ as a salary sounded fine to him.”