NOW AND TEN

Paul Guiragossian, La Famille, 1991,
137 x 130cm. (Christie’s Dubai, October 2011;
price realised: US$ 242,500).
© Christie’s Images Ltd. 2011
Paul Guiragossian, Automne (Autumn), 1989,
140 x 140cm. (Christie’s Dubai, 18 March 2015;
price realised: US$ 293,000).
© Christie’s Images Ltd. 2015
Paul Guiragossian, Celebrations, 1990,
150 x 135.5cm. (Christie’s Dubai, April 2008;
price realised: US$ 217,000).
© Christie’s Images Ltd. 2008
his sketch pads with inks and colour pencils in
the streets of Beirut to draw various sketches that
he would in turn combine or use as preparatory
studies to his larger paintings, once he was back
in his studio. Known as the ‘painter of the people’
as he describes himself in Jean Antoine’s 1973
documentary Styles on the artist, Guiragossian
immersed himself within the popular crowds
and it is through painting that he expressed his
impressions. Souk epitomises his fascination with
the people and the dynamism and activities that he
would observe in the streets of Bourj Hammoud;
the subject matter of the market place was in
fact a vehicle to express his impressions of the
popular habits and traditions that fascinated him s
a painter and a man throughout his life.
As one of Guiragossian’s largest paintings ever
made and to ever appear at auction, Souk is
not only majestic in its composition and textural
quality, but also in its size and monumentality.
One of fve works by the artist that are above 130
x 130cm., the present work is as captivating as
works that set previous records set at auction at
Christie’s Dubai, namely La Lutte de l’Existence, Le
Grand Marché (which in fact is another depiction
of the market place, albeit with more abstracted
brushstrokes and less of a textural quality, making
the present example a stronger composition),
Celebrations, Automne and La Famille.
The present work encapsulates all the stylistic
qualities that have placed Guiragossian at the
forefront of Arab Modern art. Filled with references
to the social realities of his time, evoking the
dificulties and anguish witnessed during the
Lebanese Civil War, it also brings together the
iconography for which he is known. A striking
example amongst his various depictions of the
market place, Souk is undeniably one of the textural
and most complete versions of his favoured
subject matter, given the texture and the intricate
details that are beautifully combined to create
this masterpiece. The mother fgure, another
favoured subject matter that is visible throughout
Guiragossian’s oeuvre, is repeated throughout the
composition and accentuated with the abstracted
depiction of an infant in the far right of the
composition; the proximity of the fgures allude
to the presence of a family and the hope for unity,
the rough brushstrokes create a sense of torment
while the colourful palette infuses a feeling of
positivity. The attention to details is outstanding;
whilst the fgures have become faceless imprints
of their time, Guiragossian has delicately poured
his work with intricate details. The feet at the
forefront of the composition, intentionally placed
on the extreme edge of the canvas, evoke the
attachment to the soil and to the land, therefore
becoming metaphors for the sense of national
identity and belonging that is observed typically
during times of confict. The details in the white
drape that covers the central fgure also create
a sense of depth, giving importance to the fgure
and perhaps hinting at her matriarchal role, one
of Guiragossian’s favoured subject throughout his
oeuvre. With her hands joined, as if in a position of
prayer, the central fgure impersonates the sense
of hope that is distilled throughout the work and
seemingly bonds the fgures around her.
Seeking a balance between an expressionist
touch that references reality and chromatic
elements that express emotional movement and a
new reality, the present work shows a remarkable
precision in the artist’s brushstrokes and the
overall composition. Souk is a visually arresting,
multi-layered composition which has been held in
the artist’s family collection since its execution in
the late 1980s and is undeniably one of the most
important works ever made by the artist, truly a
collector’s piece.
Film stills from short documentary Styles by Jean
Antoine, 1973.
Courtesy of the Paul Guiragossian Foundation, Beirut.