Born in 1926 in Jerusalem to Armenian parents, survivors of the Armenian Genocide, Paul Guiragossian experienced the consequences of exile from a very young age. Raised in boarding schools, Paul and his younger brother grew up away from their mother who had to work to make sure her two sons got an education. Towards the end of 1947 Paul and his family migrated to Lebanon where in 1952 he married Juliette Hindian and started a family. To support his family Paul became an art teacher in several Armenian schools and worked as an illustrator. He later opened his own business with his brother Antoine painting cinema banners, posters and drawing illustrations for books. Soon after he was discovered for his art and introduced to his contemporaries after which he began exhibiting his works in Beirut and eventually all over the world. In 1956 he won the first prize in a painting competition, which landed him a scholarship by the Italian government to study at the Academia di Belle Arti di Firenze (The Academy of Fine Arts of Florence). While in Florence, Paul had multiple exhibitions starting with a solo show in 1958 at the Gallerie d’Arte Moderna “La Permanente” e “Schubert”, Florence, Italy.
In 1959 Paul participated in the first Paris Biennial with his painting “La Vendeuse de Fleurs” and later was granted another scholarship, this time by the French Government to study and paint at Les Atelier Des Maîtres De L’Ecole De Paris in 1962. That same year he had a solo exhibition at the Galerie Mouffe in Paris. By the mid 60’s Guiragossian grew to become one of the most celebrated artists in Lebanon and eventually of the Arab world and even though war broke out in the early 70’s his attachment to Lebanon grew bigger and his works became more colorful with messages of hope for his people. 1970 saw multiple important events in Guiragossian’s life as it started off with him being awarded the poet Saïd Akl’s prestigious prize for excellence in an artistic domain. Shortly after Paul opened his first solo exhibition of that year at the Galerie du Journal de L’Orient in Beirut. One of the many art critics who reviewed the exhibition hailed the paintings as a sign of “Paul, the indefatigable, the only true one. The first among Lebanese painters.”
A few weeks after the opening of his solo exhibition in Beirut, accompanied by his wife Juliette, Guiragossian traveled to Washington D.C. on an American tour that was made possible by a grant from the Exchange Visitors Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. On that trip, Paul held his first personal exhibition in the United States at the Corcoran Gallery, one of Washington D.C.’s renowned public art institutions.
After countless exhibitions around the world while the Lebanese Civil War was raging in Lebanon, in 1989 Paul returned to Paris and held a solo exhibition in La Salle Des Pas Perdus in UNESCO and resided in the city with part of his family until 1991. Between 1989 and 1991 Paul painted some of his largest masterpieces and at the end of that year he had another solo exhibition at the Institut du Monde Arab, which extended until early 1992.
Paul passed away in 1993 on the 20th of November in Beirut, after finalizing a magnificent oil painting, which he revealed to his family to be his best work yet. His family titled the painting “L’Adieu” which remains unsigned and in the Guiragossian family estate collection. His works can be found in the most discerning public and private collections worldwide including institutional presence at The British Museum. London - Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou. Paris - Institut du Monde Arabe. Paris, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art. Doha, Modern Art Museum of Kuwait. Kuwait, Barjeel Art Foundation. Sharjah, Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation. Abu Dhabi, among many others.
Courtesy Paul Guiragossian Foundation.
