Alex F. Yaworski

Alex F. Yaworski (born 1907, Odessa, Imperial Russia, now Ukraine; died March 25, 1997) was a visual artist who specialized in Watercolor painting and Illustration.

Alex was doing work for Sears Roebuck when he met his then-to-be wife Maurine who was working in their advertising department. She already had a daughter named Ernine from her previous marriage. Together, they formed a family of three when they got married in June,1936 and had son Don twelve years later. Maurine died in 1983 and in 1991 after spending over 60 years in Chicago, Alex moved to Kansas City, MO to be closer to his son. In his final years, he continued to paint and he enjoyed his visits to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Alex F. Yaworski died on March 25, 1997.

Yaworski's first full time job out of school was working in the art department of the Chicago Tribune. After a few years as an employee of the Tribune, he became a freelance artist and worked for Sears Roebuck and other clients. In the 1940s, he again became a full time employee but this time for Poster Products in Chicago. While there during World War II, Alex illustrated many posters and advertisements for the war bond effort. After the war, he returned to freelancing for multiple companies. From 1946 through 1954, he designed and illustrated Sears Roebuck’s Christmas Book covers.

Alex F. Yaworski's parents, Anton and Anna, married right before the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. His father, Anton, was conscripted into the Czarist Army and maintained cavalry horses, while his mother, Anna was employed as a cook for a group of generals. Alex was born December 29, 1907. They immigrated to the United States through Canada when Alex was almost two years old and settled in Superior, Wisconsin During his lifetime, Superior and environs were the subject matter of many of his paintings. He found fascination in the Northern Wisconsin scenic beauty as well as the waterfront shipyards, freight yards, and grain elevators of the Duluth/Superior Twin Ports region. As early as grade school, he was determined to become an artist. In 1927, he left Superior for Chicago, Illinois to attend The American Academy of Art. He graduated in 1931. He taught life drawing while still a student and continued teaching there for a period of time after graduation.