Paul Guiragossian
Encyclopedia
Paul Guiragossian was an Armenian
painter.
Guiragossian had a foreboding sense of tragedy from his earliest years. Some of his early paintings were haunted by a figure who had lost one leg, a prophecy of his own misfortune, when in the early 1970s he lost a leg in an elevator
accident.
Paul Guiragossian was consumed by his art and paid little attention to anything but his family and his painting. His mature works express the complexities of the human condition through renderings of vertical, elongated, purged bodies, both static and in motion, painted with thick layers of often luminous colors. His paintings are always serious in feeling. He also created fresco
es, mosaic
s, stained glass windows, sculpture
s, and illustrations for books.
Juliette played a very big role in Paul's success by becoming his wife, the mother of his children, his muse, his model and manager all together. She use to stretch his canvases and organize his shows until the '80s when Emmanuel the eldest son returned from Germany to work with his father.
Juliette is the biggest collector of her husbands works and biggest supporter of her children's art. She still lives and paints in Beirut.
3 of the children Emmanuel, Jean-Paul and Manuella are artist painters.
Currently living in Germany where he had his education in art, Guiragossian's eldest son Emmanuel,is a painter in the German and Arab circles of art, as well as having connections to A.R. Penk. Emmanuel has five children and his son, Paul, following in his grandfather and father's footsteps has begun studying art at the kunst akademie Dresden.
Jean-Paul Guiragossian, lived and became a Canadian citizen during the Lebanese civil war and eventually moved and was based in Berlin for many years where he painted and exhibited his works all over Europe. Currently he is based between Los Angeles and Beirut.
Manuella Guiragossian born on November 6, 1972, Paul's youngest daughter is the child who has most spent time with her father. After Paul's elevator accident and his return to Beirut from Chicago following surgeries and six months therapy and treatments, Manuella was like a breath of fresh air that distracted and entertained her father on daily basis, which helped him through this difficult time of recovery. Being the youngest Manuella never left her father's side during the civil war which created a very strong bond between father and daughter and they became inseparable.
Her father's death on the 20th of November 1993, two weeks after her birthday, was devastating for her and the entire family. In 1996 Manuella went and realized one of her life long dreams of studying animation at the California Institute of the Arts
.
Currently she is based between Dubai and Beirut and represents all the artists in her family especially her father. She has taken the very challenging task of archiving her father's works and completing his biography.
Manuella is a painter and a musician since childhood and has been exhibiting her works since the early age of 16 in Paris then L.A. and more recently in the Arab world.
The two other daughters Silva, who has studied archeology, gemology, art history and Araxie, a ballerina and dancer of over 16 years, both reside in Lebanon and run the family Art Gallery and estate of the Guiragossian Family.
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
painter.
Career
Paul Guiragossian, the famous Armenian painter was born in Jerusalem in 1926 and settled in Beirut with his family in 1939 becoming a Lebanese citizen. He started to paint in 1942 at the Yarkon Studio. In 1957, he received a scholarship to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. In 1961-1962, he spent a year studying and painting in Paris. The rest of his life was spent living and painting in Beirut. In his lifetime, Guiragossian became Lebanon's most celebrated painter, a renown he retains to this day. Upon his death in 1993, Guiragossian received a state funeral.Guiragossian had a foreboding sense of tragedy from his earliest years. Some of his early paintings were haunted by a figure who had lost one leg, a prophecy of his own misfortune, when in the early 1970s he lost a leg in an elevator
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
accident.
Paul Guiragossian was consumed by his art and paid little attention to anything but his family and his painting. His mature works express the complexities of the human condition through renderings of vertical, elongated, purged bodies, both static and in motion, painted with thick layers of often luminous colors. His paintings are always serious in feeling. He also created fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
es, mosaic
Mosaic
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...
s, stained glass windows, sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
s, and illustrations for books.
Family
Paul married Juliette Hindian, a painter herself and mandolin player. Together they had 6 children, Silva, Emmanuel, Araxie, Ara (was born weak and died a few months later), Jean-Paul and Manuella.Juliette played a very big role in Paul's success by becoming his wife, the mother of his children, his muse, his model and manager all together. She use to stretch his canvases and organize his shows until the '80s when Emmanuel the eldest son returned from Germany to work with his father.
Juliette is the biggest collector of her husbands works and biggest supporter of her children's art. She still lives and paints in Beirut.
3 of the children Emmanuel, Jean-Paul and Manuella are artist painters.
Currently living in Germany where he had his education in art, Guiragossian's eldest son Emmanuel,is a painter in the German and Arab circles of art, as well as having connections to A.R. Penk. Emmanuel has five children and his son, Paul, following in his grandfather and father's footsteps has begun studying art at the kunst akademie Dresden.
Jean-Paul Guiragossian, lived and became a Canadian citizen during the Lebanese civil war and eventually moved and was based in Berlin for many years where he painted and exhibited his works all over Europe. Currently he is based between Los Angeles and Beirut.
Manuella Guiragossian born on November 6, 1972, Paul's youngest daughter is the child who has most spent time with her father. After Paul's elevator accident and his return to Beirut from Chicago following surgeries and six months therapy and treatments, Manuella was like a breath of fresh air that distracted and entertained her father on daily basis, which helped him through this difficult time of recovery. Being the youngest Manuella never left her father's side during the civil war which created a very strong bond between father and daughter and they became inseparable.
Her father's death on the 20th of November 1993, two weeks after her birthday, was devastating for her and the entire family. In 1996 Manuella went and realized one of her life long dreams of studying animation at the California Institute of the Arts
California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia, in Los Angeles County, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the...
.
Currently she is based between Dubai and Beirut and represents all the artists in her family especially her father. She has taken the very challenging task of archiving her father's works and completing his biography.
Manuella is a painter and a musician since childhood and has been exhibiting her works since the early age of 16 in Paris then L.A. and more recently in the Arab world.
The two other daughters Silva, who has studied archeology, gemology, art history and Araxie, a ballerina and dancer of over 16 years, both reside in Lebanon and run the family Art Gallery and estate of the Guiragossian Family.