About Miriam
(1912-2012)
A biography written by her grandson, David Morales Boroff
Miriam Esselson grew up poor in Boston, Massachusetts, the youngest child of Aaron Esselson and Olga Litvak. They were Jewish refugees from Rega, Latvia, who had just arrived in America in 1910. In an early life of harsh realities, Miriam’s art developed as an avenue of escape. Soon, she was known by her family as Little Miriam, The Artist.
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During her late teens, Miriam studied for a few years on scholarship at Boston’s School of Practical Art (eventually acquired by Lesley University and renamed the Art Institute of Boston), and afterwards, struck out on her own as a fashion illustrator. This got her through the Great Depression and served her well up through the war years, during which she drew up blueprints for warplanes.
But Miriam had always been painting seriously, and harbored dreams of becoming the fine artist she knew she could be, despite the necessity to be practical in how she used her gift. By the time World War II was in full force, she was a woman in full flower, putting in daily work at her own easel in addition to her day job. Her move to California and her marriage in 1945 to George Boroff were accompanied by a surge in output of oil paintings, and the following few years continued that trend.
During this time, Miriam was studying oils with Keith Finch and Joseph Chabot, two luminaries of the mid-century Los Angeles art scene. Her studies eventually continued with Sueo Serisawa, with whom she focused on watercolor painting, the medium which became her specialty.
However, following her separation from her husband in 1948, her responsibilities as a single mother became the main focus of her life, and she took on more straight jobs to support her household. She continued to paint and teach art classes during her son Phil’s adolescence, but much time was taken away from her artistic growth. Years passed this way.
Nonetheless, by the time Miriam reached her late fifties, her son had grown, and so she finally decided it was time to give herself completely to her painting. She moved into a duplex in West Hollywood and started creating nonstop. This was her most productive, definitive period - and it lasted almost 40 years. During this latter half of her life, she also mastered lithographs and etchings, and experimented with more abstract work in addition to the traditional paintings she had become known for. She eventually passed away in 2012 at age ninety-nine, a happy grandmother.
Though she never sought fame or great recognition for her work during her lifetime, her art speaks for itself. Through it, Miriam reveals who she truly was.
