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Lebanese artist Gerard Avedissian dies

The author, composer, poet, director and painter died Thursday night after a four-month battle with illness, according to local media outlets.

Lebanese artist Gerard Avedissian dies

Lebanese artist Gerard Avedissian. (Credit: Facebook/Gerard Avedissian)

BEIRUT — Gerard Avedissian, Lebanese author, composer, poet, director and painter, passed away on Thursday evening after a four-month battle with illness, several local media outlets reported Friday.

Avedissian made his debut on the Lebanese stage in the 1970s, after spending six years in Russia, where he had studied theater.

He directed the play Sakhrat Tanios (The Rock of Tanios), an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Amin Maalouf. "This is the only time Amin Maalouf agreed to adapt one of his works," Avedissian said in an interview with Danny Mallat published in L'Orient-Le Jour in January 2020. He also directed Safrit al-Ahlam with Lebanese artist Madonna, as well as Ghadat el-Kamelia.

Gerard Avedissian was also an advertising executive for about 30 years, notably at the Impact agency.

"Theater is my great love, I don't compromise at all on this field. On the other hand, I always knew that advertising was only for pay at the end of the month," he told L'Orient-Le Jour.

When he was asked what kind of director he is, Avedissian replied: "What I like most of all is to direct women, and I write only for them."

A decade before his death, Avedissian also began to paint.

Son of a poet and musician by profession and a midwife, Avedissian was the child of two orphans who survived the Armenian genocide.

BEIRUT — Gerard Avedissian, Lebanese author, composer, poet, director and painter, passed away on Thursday evening after a four-month battle with illness, several local media outlets reported Friday.Avedissian made his debut on the Lebanese stage in the 1970s, after spending six years in Russia, where he had studied theater.He directed the play Sakhrat Tanios (The Rock of Tanios), an...