EMMANUEL P. GUIRAGOSSIAN BIOGRAPHY:


Born in 1954, Lebanese-German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, publisher and musician of Armenian descent.

The eldest son of renowned artist Paul Guiragossian, Emmanuel belongs to the 6th generation of artists in his family of musicians, iconographists and painters.

As a child Emmanuel’s paternal grandmother Rahel didn’t tell him stories like „The Little Red Riding Hood“ or children’s fairytale stories. Instead, this woman who had lived through the Armenian Genocide, several civil wars and two World Wars, told him about her own experience. This affected Emmanuel’s perception of life and as a consequence his work was early on overtly dramatic.

At the young age of 12, during the absence of his father who was on an exhibition trip abroad, young Emmanuel painted his self-portrait in oil on canvas and substituted it to his father’s in the family room. Upon his return Paul realized that his son had become the man of the house in his absence and said: “My son has become an artist”.
From then on, Emmanuel spent his time in his father’s studio and became a serious apprentice of one of the pioneers of contemporary art in the Middle East.

At 15, Emmanuel worked with the famous photographer Souren in his studio and later on started working as a creative designer and concept artist in an advertising company and won several prizes, among them the Poster Prize of Bank of Canada.

His talents didn’t go unnoticed and earned him an admission to the Académie des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 1972 followed by more advanced courses at the Michelangelo Academy in Florence in 1973.

In 1974, Emmanuel obtained a scholarship and attended the Hochshüle fur Bildende Kunst in Dresden-Germany under professors Gerhard Kettner, Siegfried Klotz and Juan Leon.There, he built close friendships with several renowned contemporary artists such as A.R.Penk and worked with them.

Emmanuel specialized in Artistic Anatomy and graduated with honours in 1979. By the fall of that year, he returned to Lebanon where he became a professor at the Academie Libanaise de Beaux Arts (ALBA) and the American University of Beirut until 1984.

At the same time, Emmanuel began working closely with his father, taking on the task of organizing the art shows, archiving the works and, most importantly, he founded his publishing house EMMAGOSS which published the first book ever made on Paul Guiragossian’s works in 1983.

From then on Emmanuel actively worked on several solo exhibitions around the world while residing between Beirut, Germany, Canada and Jordan and published several books including the biography of Palestinian-Jordanian banker and founder of the Arab Bank Khaled Shoman as well as a book on the art of his wife Soha Shoman.

Later on he also published books on other artists such as Iranian-American artist Marcus Grigorian and poet Peggy Abi-Jaber among others.
He also took on consulting with several major foundations in their projects such as the “Darat Al Funoon” museum in Amman, Jordan and became the artistic consultant to the project of rebuilding Down Town Beirut with Solidere.

In 1991, Emmanuel founded the Emmagoss Art gallery in Beirut which quickly became one of the most prestigious art galleries in the Middle East by holding some of the biggest artists’ exhibitions from around the world and even collaborating with international museums such as the Spanish Museum of Marbella which brought the exhibition “De Picasso à nos Jours” to Emmagoss in 1995.
Emmanuel’s target eventually was to begin founding the first contemporary art museum in Lebanon, which also was a dream of this father Paul. And in 2004 The Paul Guiragossian Contemporary Art Museum was built in the suburbs of Beirut.


Currently Emmanuel is based in Lebanon and Germany and has founded a second art gallery Emmagoss in Dresden in 2007 where he exhibits works of contemporary German artists such as A.R. Penk, Marcus Lüpertz and others including his own.


Exhibitions:

1979 – Hochshule fur Bildende kunst, Dresden, Germany

1980 – Art center Alex Manougian Beirut, Lebanon

1981 – Elcir Gallery Beirut, Lebanon

1981 – Bell Gallery, Canada

1982 – Upstairs Gallery Toronto, Canada

1983 – Gab Center Beirut, Lebanon

1984 – National Gallery Amman, Jordan

1985 – Carlton Gallery Beirut, Lebanon.
- Belian Gallery Detroit, U.S.A.
- Foreign ministry of Jordan, Amman, Jordan

1986 – Amra Gallery, Amman, Jordan

1987-88 - Gorky Gallery New York, U.S.A.

1989 – Dresden Bank Dusseldorf, Germany
- Shoman Foundation Jordan
- Tekeyan Cultural Association, Los Angeles, U.S.A

1990 – Lea & Napoleon Foundation Lyon, France
- Hous Schönblick Heimbach, Germany

1991 – Emmagoss Art Gallery Beirut, Lebanon

1992 – Gellery Ferdeban Bad Harzburg, Germany

1993 – Emmagoss Art Gallery Beirut, Lebanon
- Gallery hous Schönblick Heinbach, Germany

1997 – Emmagoss Art Gallery Beirut, Lebanon.

2005 – Solider Beirut, Lebanon
- Farra Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

2006 – Seelsorge Zentrum Carl Gustav Carus Dresden, Germany

2007 – Opening of Gallery Emmagoss Dresden with a collective
exhibition entitled „Dresden 1975“ With works of Anton Paul
Kammerer, Goran Djurovics , Jürgen Wenzel , Bernard Hahn
and Emmanuel Guiragossian. Dresden, Germany.
2008 – Kulturpark Berlin / Neugladow, Berlin, Germany

– Emmagoss Dresden, exhibition entitled „Cafe
Kranzler 1981“ with works Of A.R.Penk, Reinhard
Stangl and Emmanuel Guiragossian.

- Galerie gegenwart, Karlsruhe, Germany.

- Gallery Emmagoss Beirut, Lebanon.

- International Horse Racing Baden Baden, Germany.

- Kunsthalle VIERSEITHOF in Luckenwalde,Berlin,Germany.

- Brand Contemporary Art Groningen, Netherland.


2009

- D I S Galerie Emmagoss Dresden, Germany.

- Galerie Gegenwart Karlsruhe, Germany.

- Galerie Marita Jaeger Heimbach, Germany.

2010

- Amts-und Landgericht Duesseldorf, Germany.

- Galleryludwig, Kunstmesse Beirut/Libanon

- Galleryludwig, Bau und Liegenschaftsbetrieb Nordrhein-

Westphalen

- Galerie Zeisler Berlin, Germany.

Atelier: D-01099 Dresden, Tieckstraße 21

mobil: +49(0)173 5632147