Paul Guiragossian (July 30, 1926 - November 20, 1993) was an Armenian-Lebanese artist from Jerusalem known for expressive paintings that often explored themes of identity and conflict.[1] His works are characterized by the use of human figures, bold colors, and strong abstract brushstrokes.[2]
Guiragossian's art often portrayed the suffering of individuals experiencing political and social turmoil. In Lebanon, he received one of the country's highest national honors, the Medal of the National Order of the Cedar, becoming one of the most celebrated and influential artists of his time until his death on November 20, 1993, in Beirut.
Biography
Born in Jerusalem to Armenian parents, who were survivors of the Armenian genocide, Paul Guiragossian experienced the consequences of exile from a very tender age. Sent to Catholic missionary boarding schools from the age of three, Guiragossian grew up away from his mother who had to work to ensure her two sons received an education, and his father, who was a blind fiddle player.[3]
In the early 1940s, Guiragossian and his family moved to Jaffa, where he attended Studio Yarkon (1944 - 1945) to study painting. In 1947, the family moved again and settled in Lebanon.[citation needed]
In the 1950s, Guiragossian started teaching art in several Armenian schools and worked as an illustrator. Later he started his own business with his brother Antoine, where they painted cinema banners, created posters, and illustrated books. In time, he became connected with the contemporary art scene in Lebanon, and he began exhibiting his works in Beirut and eventually all over the world.[citation needed]
In 1956, Guiragossian won the first prize in a painting competition, and he was duly awarded a scholarship to study at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze (The Academy of Fine Arts of Florence). While in Florence, he had multiple exhibitions starting with a solo show in 1958 at the Galeria D'Arte Moderna "La Permanente".[citation needed]
In 1961, Guiragossian returned to Beirut.[4] In 1962, Guiragossian was granted another scholarship, this time by the French Government, to study and paint at Les Atelier Des Maîtres De L'Ecole De Paris and by the end of that year he had a solo exhibition at the La Galerie Mouffe.[citation needed]
By the mid-1960s, Guiragossian had become one of Lebanon's most celebrated artists and eventually of the Arab world. When war broke out in the early 1970s, Guiragossian's dedication to Lebanon only increased and his works correspondingly became more colorful and were imbued with messages of hope.[citation needed]
In 1989, Guiragossian moved to Paris with part of his family and remained there until 1991. In 1989, Guiragossian exhibited his works in La Salle Des Pas Perdus at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. In the same year, he had a solo exhibition at the Institut du Monde Arabe, which was the first solo show at the IMA for any artist and was extended beyond its original slot.
Guiragossian died on November 20, 1993, in Beirut. That morning, after completing an oil painting, he revealed to his daughter that he finally achieved what he always wanted, merging the old and the new in one painting. The family agreed to title the painting "L'Adieu" and it remains - unsigned - in the Guiragossian family collection. Other works can be found in the National Gallery of Armenia.[5]
Influences
Many aspects of Guiragossian's art style can be traced back to parts of his childhood and identity. His early paintings are characterized by distinctive features inspired by his formative years in Jerusalem and the people from his Bourj Hammoud environment. The composition of his work reflected that of religious paintings, with human features often obscured by dark shadows and contrasting flashes of light.[2] The illuminating of the central figure, much like halos do to saintly heads, reflected the religious influence that affected his art from his formative years at Sisters of Charity of St. Paul de Vence.[citation needed]
Guiragossian was part of the first generation of Palestinian refugees whose careers unfolded in Beirut. Until the Siege of Beirut in 1982, the city was widely considered the cultural hub of the Arab world. Its vibrant, open pluralist environment fostered a thriving artistic community, drawing together creators from various disciplines. Guiragossian was known to frequent soirées at the Horseshoe Cafe in Beirut, where he met and traded ideas with other Ras Beirut artists such as Etel Adnan, Saloua Choucair, Aref El Rayess, Mona Saudi, and Juliana Seraphim.[1] Since these artists worked in what was regarded as the cultural center of Beirut, they were exposed to a variety of influences, and were well informed of Western artistic trends. As a result, these artists shared common themes that were more experimental and personal, reflecting international trends.[citation needed]
Style
Guiragossian's art features long, vertical brush strokes on paper and canvas, primarily in oil, watercolor, and pen. These brushstrokes, emblematic of his style, depicted the bodies of his figures as abstract and elongated, echoing the imagery of Byzantine icons and moving between abstraction and figuration to capture the essence of the human form. During his 30 years in Beirut, Guiragossian's art style transitioned from figurative to abstract.[6] His later paintings often depict frontal groups and erect figures, recapturing the vertical staging of Christ's apostles. His colors became more vivid, and the figures were reduced to slashes of thick paint. His art is mainly concerned with the human figure, especially that of mother and child.[7] He often painted his wife and children, self-portraits, and anonymous figures. Guiragossian's art reflects themes common in Palestinian art, including motherhood, spirituality, exile, and labor. The themes of exile and spirituality are especially prominent in his work, demonstrating a longing for a homeland he cannot return to and the generational burden of exile.[citation needed]
Awards and honors
Paul Guiragossian received numerous prestigious awards and honors throughout his art career, beginning with his early recognition in the 1950s. In 1956, he won the First Prize at the Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA) in Beirut and was also awarded the Florence Prize by the Italian Cultural Institute in the same city. The following year, in 1957, he received a gold medal at the International Exhibitions at the Galleria d'Arte Moderna La Permanente in Florence, Italy. In 1958, he earned another gold medal at the Painters of Tuscany Exhibition. His international recognition grew further in 1959 when he won First Prize at the Paris Biennial in France.[8]
In the 1960s, Guiragossian's prominence grew as did his accolades. In 1964, he received the Prize of Fine Arts from the German Association of Arts & Culture. At the Sursock Museum in Beirut, he won the Second Prize for Painting at the VI Spring Salon in 1966 and the First Prize at the museum's competition in 1968. His achievements in Lebanon also included winning the First Prize of "Phillips" in Beirut in 1969 and being honored with the Said Akl Award in 1970.[citation needed]
Guiragossian's contributions to the arts were further celebrated internationally in the 1980s. In 1984, he was named Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture in Paris. A year later, in 1985, he was awarded the Mardiros Sarian Award of the Plastic Arts in Yerevan, Armenia. In 1986, he was knighted twice, first by Pope John Paul II as Chevalier de l'Ordre of St. Silvestre in the Vatican, and then as Chevalier de l'Ordre of St. Mesrob Mashtots in Antelias, Lebanon.[citation needed]
Georg Baselitz is a German painter, sculptor and graphic artist. In the 1960s he became well known for his figurative, expressive paintings. In 1969 he began painting his subjects upside down in an effort to overcome the representational, content-driven character of his earlier work and stress the artifice of painting. Drawing from myriad influences, including art of Soviet era illustration art, the Mannerist period and African sculptures, he developed his own, distinct artistic language.
Shahabuddin Ahmed is a Bangladeshi painter. He was awarded the Chevalier De L'ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres by the Ministry of Cultural Affair and Communication of France in 2014. He was the recipient of Independence Day Award by the Government of Bangladesh in 2000. His paintings are displayed in galleries like Olympic Museum, Lausanne, Switzerland, Municipal Museum of Bourg-en-Bresse, France, Seoul Olympic Museum, South Korea, the National Taiwan Museum and Bangladesh National Museum.
Maison Bonfils was a French family-run company producing and selling photography and photographic products from Beirut from 1867 until 1918, from 1878 on renamed "F. Bonfils et Cie". The Bonfils ran the first and, in their time, most successful photographic studio in the city. Maison Bonfils produced studio portraits, staged biblical scenes, landscapes, and panoramic photographs.
Bernard Vidal is a French painter who has been honored by the French Government with the Chevalier dans l'Ordre Des Arts et des Lettres, the highest distinction in the Arts in France.
Etel Adnan was a Lebanese-American poet, essayist, and visual artist. In 2003, Adnan was named "arguably the most celebrated and accomplished Arab American author writing today" by the academic journal MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States.
Abdoulaye Konaté is a Malian artist. He was born in Diré and lives and works in Bamako.
Haroutiun Galentz, also known as Kalents, was a prolific Armenian painter.
Reginald Gray was an Irish portrait artist. He studied at The National College of Art (1953) and then moved to London, becoming part of the School of London led by Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and Frank Auerbach. In 1960, he painted a portrait of Bacon which is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London. He subsequently painted portraits from life of writers, musicians and artists such as Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Brendan Behan, Garech Browne, Derry O'Sullivan, Alfred Schnittke, Ted Hughes, Rupert Everett and Yves Saint Laurent. In 1993 Gray had a retrospective exhibition at UNESCO Paris and in 2006, his portrait "The White Blouse" won the Sandro Botticelli Prize in Florence, Italy.
Yervand "Kochar" Kocharyan, also known as Ervand Kochar was a prominent sculptor and modern artist of the twentieth century and a founder of Painting in Space art movement. The Ervand Kochar Museum is located in Yerevan, Armenia and showcases much of his work.
Nadim Asfar is a French-Lebanese photographer and filmmaker. He currently lives and works between Paris and Beirut. He studied cinematography at the Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts ALBA Beirut and then photography at the École Nationale Supérieure Louis Lumière (Paris) before engaging in the theory of arts and languages at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales.
Saleh Barakat is a Lebanese art expert, gallery owner and curator. He studied at the American University of Beirut and was nominated as a Yale World Fellow in 2006. He runs Agial Art Gallery and Saleh Barakat Gallery in the Ras Beirut area.
ShaficAbboud was a Lebanese painter. He studied at the Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts ALBA and left to Paris in 1947. Although he spent most of his life in France, he is considered as one of the most influential Lebanese artists of the 20th century.
Aref El Rayess was a Lebanese painter and sculptor.
Chu Teh-Chun or Zhu Dequn was a Chinese-French abstract painter acclaimed for his pioneering style integrating traditional Chinese painting techniques with Western abstract art. Chu Teh-Chun enrolled in the National School of Fine Arts, where he studied under French-trained Fang Ganmin and Wu Dayu. He was the first ethnic Chinese member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts of France, and together with Wu Guanzhong and Zao Wou-Ki were dubbed the "Three Musketeers" of modernist Chinese artists trained in China and France.
Mkrtich Mazmanian is a well known Armenian figurative sculptor based in Armenia Yerevan at moment.
Mouna Bassili Sehnaoui is a Lebanese painter, writer, and artist.
Tagreed Darghouth is a Lebanese artist.
Juliana Seraphim is a Palestinian-born painter. She was a refugee in Sidon after the 1948 Nakba and later moved to Beirut, Lebanon in 1952. She gained prominence in Palestinian, Lebanese, and later, international art spheres for her unique art style that expresses themes of identity and memory through surreal imagery.
Missak Terzian is a Lebanese-American artist of Armenian descent, known for his work in Semi-Abstract Figurative Expressionism and Geometric Abstraction. Throughout his career, he has explored themes such as love, sexuality, motherhood, and later, geometric forms and regional iconography. He has exhibited his work internationally and remains a notable figure in both Lebanese and Armenian cultural circles.
Ras Beirut refers to a school of Palestinian artists who practiced in Lebanon's cultural capital of Beirut in the twentieth century following their displacement during the Nakba. Despite their refugee status, these artists enjoyed a level of wealth and comfort due to their families’ socio-economic statuses and prominence first in Palestine's major cities and later in cosmopolitan Beirut society. The Ras Beirut artists had access to formal education and artistic training, and many studied abroad in Europe or the United States. Many Ras Beirut artists drew inspiration from Palestinian artistic traditions combined with newer and more contemporary artistic styles and techniques learned in Beirut.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
