Born in 1954, Emmanuel is a 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 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 in 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.
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 collaborated 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 his father Paul. 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 Lupertz 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
– 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 Heimbach, Germany
1997 – Emmagos Art Gallery Beirut, Lebanon
2005 – Solidere 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 “Café 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 Düsseldorf, Germany
– Gallery Ludwig, Bau und Liegenschaftsbetrieb Nordrhein-Westphalen
– Galerie Zeisler Berlin, Germany
2011 Galerie Gegenwart Karlsruhe, Germany