Georges Doche

Born in Cairo in 1940, Georges Doche moved to Beirut with his family in the 1950s. Having been encouraged by his father to take over the family pharmaceutical business, he studied chemistry for two years before switching over to philosophy. He simultaneously received training in painting at the Académie Julian, L’École des Arts Decoratifs and L’École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he experimented with the chemical materials permanganate, merbromin and carmine. From 1961, he showed his work in numerous public and private institutions worldwide, including Salon des Artistes Indépendants, Cité Universitaire (1961) in Paris and Sursock Museum’s Salon d’Automne (1966, 1967), Galerie L’Amateur (1967, 1971), Galerie Le Point (1975) and Modulart (1975) in Beirut. In parallel to his artistic career, Doche designed stage costumes and sets. In 1963 and 1964 he designed the costumes and décor for Léonide Massine’s Ballets Européens, and in 1966 and 1967 he worked with the publishing house Planète. He also designed jewellery and ran an antiques gallery in Lebanon in the 1980s. His work was featured in the exhibition Le Regard des peintres: 200 ans de peinture libanaise at L’Institut du Monde Arabe in 1989 and has more recently appeared in an exhibition at The Alternative Artspace (Platform 39) in Beirut.