Paul Guiragossian was born on December 25, 1925 in Jerusalem, Israel, to Armenian parents, survivors of the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
Paul Guiragossian and his brother Antoine grew up away from their mother who had to work to make sure her two sons got an education. In the early 1940s, Guiragossian and his family moved to Jaffa, Israel. In 1947, the family had to move again and settled in Lebanon.
Paul Guiragossian attended Studio Yarkon (1944-1945) in Jaffa to start improving his passion for painting. Later, he received a scholarship for study at the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence, Italy.
In 1962, Guiragossian was granted another scholarship by the French Government to study and paint in Paris at Les Atelier Des Maîtres De L'Ecole De Paris.
In the 1950s, Guiragossian started teaching art in several Armenian schools and worked as an illustrator. He later started 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.
While studying in Florence on a scholarship by the Italian government, he had multiple exhibitions starting with a solo show in 1958 at the Galeria D'Arte Moderna "La Permanente".
In 1961, Guiragossian returned to Beirut. In 1962, he studied and painted in Paris and by the end of that year he had a solo exhibition at the Galerie Mouffe.
By the mid 1960s Guiragossian had grown 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 1970s, his attachment to Lebanon grew bigger and his works became more colorful with messages of hope for his people.
In 1989, Guiragossian went to Paris to exhibit his works in La Salle Des Pas Perdus in UNESCO and lived in the city until 1991. In that year, he had a solo exhibition at the Institut du Monde Arabe. This exhibition was extended and marked the first solo show at the IMA for any artist.
Guiragossian died on November 20, 1993, in Beirut, Lebanon, after finishing a magnificent oil painting, which he revealed to his family to be his best work yet - 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.
Guiragossian was best know as one of the most influential artists to emerge from the Arab World in the 20th century. His works can be found in the National Gallery of Armenia.
He won the first prize in a painting competition in 1956.
In 2011, his family established The Paul Guiragossian Foundation to preserve and promote his legacy.
Quotations:
“I began to draw when I was seven years of age. There were children who used to play with their paper kites in their gardens amongst the olive trees. I used to watch them through the classroom window, and they would ask me to draw on the paper that they would use for their kites. They used to like my kites best as they were full with many colors.”
“I finally accomplished what I always hoped for, bringing the old and the new in one painting."
In 1952, Paul married Juliette Hindian, a young painter and a former student of his. Together they had six children: Silva, Emmanuel, Araxie, Jean-Paul, Ara and Manuella. Their son Ara died soon after birth and Paul painted several paintings as a tribute to him. All the children have studied different forms of art, but Emmanuel, Jean-Paul and Manuella continued their careers as artist painters, making a name of their own in the art world.
