In 1966, Sarah MarKasian traveled to Beirut in search of a meeting with artist Paul Guiragossian. Though Guiragossian initially proved elusive, Sarah succeeded in gaining an invitation to the artist’s family home where she was shown a sampling of his canvases. In a letter home to her husband, Michael, she described with delight both the paintings and her burgeoning friendship with Guiragossian. Writing of the artist’s work, she tells her husband, “His technique is like nothing I have ever seen before… Very dramatic and startling… His style is sure, dynamic and very fluid.” Sarah acquired on that visit the two works offered in the present sale, La mariée and La tasse de café. La tasse de café was to be her only purchase but when she saw La mariée, she insisted on buying it as well. As she explained to Michael, “What is so gripping about it is the attitude and slant of the bridegroom’s head and its poignancy… I feel sorrow, love and humility all rolled together when looking at the painting.”
