Ashot Zorian was born in 1905 in the coastal town of Giresun, Ottoman Empire (now northeastern Turkey).
[3] He studied at the Armenian National School; Wiener Kunstschule (English: Vienna Art School) in Vienna;[5] Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma in Rome; and the French Academy in Rome inside Villa Medici.
[1] In 1941, during World War II and after the Nazis bombed British military bases Alexandria; Zorian and his uncle fled to Cairo.
His former students included Queen Farida of Egypt (in 1948),[3] Edmond Kiraz,[7] Garo Varjabedian,[8] Harmig Ballarian, Khadiga Riad,[9] Nora Ipekian,[10][11] Eliz Partam,[1][12] Joseph Egoyan,[13][14] Shushan Deuletian-Egoyan,[13][15] Rose Papazian,[3] Chant Avedissian, Vahé Varjabedian, Laila Ezzat,[1] Mervat Refaat, and Herant Antranikian.
[3] His sisters helped him prepare the legal paperwork in the Soviet Union in order to donate some 100+ paintings to the National Gallery of Armenia after his death.