Hovsep Karalian was born in 1897 in Tiflis, Georgia.  From 1915-1916, he studied at Tiflis School of Painting.  In 1940, he graduated from Moscow High Art Technical Institute.  He lived in Tiflis, Baku, and Moscow, and in 1953, he settled in Yerevan.  He died in 1981 in Yerevan.