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Lot Essay
Lebanese artist Paul Guiragossian is one of the most celebrated artists in the Arab world, noted for his motherhood motifs, becoming a symbol of hope and homage to the human condition felt during the Lebanese civil war. Christie’s is offering two never before-seen painting and watercolor works by the artist that symbolise Guiragossian’s dynamic and versatile oeuvre with easily recognisable motifs that oscillate between figuration and abstraction. Painted within a year from each other just before the civil war, these works capture the essence of the short-lived peace and relative merriment and joy of the time in Lebanon, representing two works that alternate between happiness and sadness and reverence and piety for his people.
Ms. Riviere acquired lot 31, the Guiragossian oil painting, in the famous Horseshoe Café on Hamra Street in Beirut, which was a central gathering place for artists, writers, politicians, journalists and intellectuals.
As Ms. Riviere states:
‘In the early 70s we would frequent the Horseshoe Café, which was owned by our dear friend Munah Dabaghi. Munah invited artists to display their works. It was here that I fell in love with my first Paul Guiragossian (lot 31). My husband bought it as my birthday gift. Paul was extremely pleased with the motherhood painting he sold me. At that time, he considered it to be one of his very best.’ In the intimate composition of the painting, Guiraossian paints a group of five women surrounding each other, one holding an infant in her arms. They are painted in a lush green palette, surrounded within a frame-like window. Their heads bow down, in respected silence, offering a window into the depths of women’s lives in the Middle East. This also reinforces the strength of the family, harkening to the artist’s own family history that was plagued by exile, isolation and loss as an Armenian refugee living in Beirut. The skillfully applied and impulsive brushstroke reveals to be carefully maneuvered, alternating between thick and light touches of shades of green illuminating the canvas. Guiragossian was particularly influenced by religious iconography, taking Greek and Russian religious icons and utilising their reference to a central maternal figure, as noted in the canvas of the woman second from the left. Her features are more readily outlined and depicted, and she is distinctly carrying a child in her arms. She also has a touch of purple near her head, which identifies with her mysterious presence.
Painted during the same time, the watercolour proves to be the most intriguing in terms of it overall atypical composition, with its dominant subject in a horizontal position, as compared to his vertically dominant motherhood, standing figure motif works. Using bold and gestural outlined strokes, the artist depicts a woman lying down, in a tender embrace, surrounded by a group of abstracted figures in different scales that become a canopy over her. These figures close proximity is in juxtaposition to the woman lying down, isolated from the rest that appear clinging together. Synonymous to the Mother and Child, in a Michelangelo’s Pietà version, the work is a beacon for the ultimate reverence of feminine piety; the woman’s eyes are closed in a peaceful gesture, an affectionate and reverent aura whose power radiates across the canvas and the contours of her sinuous body are held together by a firm foundation; abstracted figures surrounding the woman become a canopy over her. Although the dark hues provide a chilling reality of an overwhelmingly depressed sentiment, a sense of warmth radiates out of the seated woman, whose peacefulness and delicate yet firmly grounded position emanates innocence and purity.
Both works brilliantly captivate Guiragossian’s hope for unity and goodness of human kind, with color palettes and thick and thin layers that provide a shared sense of hidden beauty and inner light that radiates from within.
Born in Jerusalem to Armenian parents who survived the 1915 genocide, Guiragossian and his family migrated to Jaffa, and eventually to Beirut by boat. The artist found a home in Beirut, teaching art in Armenian schools while also working as an illustrator. He would produce portraits of the people he saw throughout Beirut, with quick, gestural strokes that conveyed the physical and emotional states of his community. During the 1970s when both of these works were executed, Guiragossian was gaining considerable acclaim throughout the Middle East, fortifying his presence in delineating the human nature of his community in canvas, in watercolour and pens.
Ms. Riviere acquired lot 31, the Guiragossian oil painting, in the famous Horseshoe Café on Hamra Street in Beirut, which was a central gathering place for artists, writers, politicians, journalists and intellectuals.
As Ms. Riviere states:
‘In the early 70s we would frequent the Horseshoe Café, which was owned by our dear friend Munah Dabaghi. Munah invited artists to display their works. It was here that I fell in love with my first Paul Guiragossian (lot 31). My husband bought it as my birthday gift. Paul was extremely pleased with the motherhood painting he sold me. At that time, he considered it to be one of his very best.’ In the intimate composition of the painting, Guiraossian paints a group of five women surrounding each other, one holding an infant in her arms. They are painted in a lush green palette, surrounded within a frame-like window. Their heads bow down, in respected silence, offering a window into the depths of women’s lives in the Middle East. This also reinforces the strength of the family, harkening to the artist’s own family history that was plagued by exile, isolation and loss as an Armenian refugee living in Beirut. The skillfully applied and impulsive brushstroke reveals to be carefully maneuvered, alternating between thick and light touches of shades of green illuminating the canvas. Guiragossian was particularly influenced by religious iconography, taking Greek and Russian religious icons and utilising their reference to a central maternal figure, as noted in the canvas of the woman second from the left. Her features are more readily outlined and depicted, and she is distinctly carrying a child in her arms. She also has a touch of purple near her head, which identifies with her mysterious presence.
Painted during the same time, the watercolour proves to be the most intriguing in terms of it overall atypical composition, with its dominant subject in a horizontal position, as compared to his vertically dominant motherhood, standing figure motif works. Using bold and gestural outlined strokes, the artist depicts a woman lying down, in a tender embrace, surrounded by a group of abstracted figures in different scales that become a canopy over her. These figures close proximity is in juxtaposition to the woman lying down, isolated from the rest that appear clinging together. Synonymous to the Mother and Child, in a Michelangelo’s Pietà version, the work is a beacon for the ultimate reverence of feminine piety; the woman’s eyes are closed in a peaceful gesture, an affectionate and reverent aura whose power radiates across the canvas and the contours of her sinuous body are held together by a firm foundation; abstracted figures surrounding the woman become a canopy over her. Although the dark hues provide a chilling reality of an overwhelmingly depressed sentiment, a sense of warmth radiates out of the seated woman, whose peacefulness and delicate yet firmly grounded position emanates innocence and purity.
Both works brilliantly captivate Guiragossian’s hope for unity and goodness of human kind, with color palettes and thick and thin layers that provide a shared sense of hidden beauty and inner light that radiates from within.
Born in Jerusalem to Armenian parents who survived the 1915 genocide, Guiragossian and his family migrated to Jaffa, and eventually to Beirut by boat. The artist found a home in Beirut, teaching art in Armenian schools while also working as an illustrator. He would produce portraits of the people he saw throughout Beirut, with quick, gestural strokes that conveyed the physical and emotional states of his community. During the 1970s when both of these works were executed, Guiragossian was gaining considerable acclaim throughout the Middle East, fortifying his presence in delineating the human nature of his community in canvas, in watercolour and pens.