One of the most influential female icons and modern artists from Lebanon, Huguette Caland’s dynamic and daring oeuvre is the manifestation of her bold spirit. Born in Beirut in 1931 to Bechara El Khoury, independent Lebanon’s first president, her public visibility arguably made things more challenging for the young and defiant Caland, who was known for her liberated character. Helen Khal (lot 8), contemporary Lebanese artist and close friend of Caland explains, “While her father strived for the independence of his country, she was concentrating on achieving her own independence” (Helen Khal, The Woman Artist in Lebanon, Beirut 1987, p. 128). At the age of sixteen, Caland took up painting lessons with Beirut-based Italian artist Fernando Manetti (1899-1964), but it was not until the age of thirty-three following her father’s death in 1964 that she began to paint decisively and independently. At this time married and the mother of three children, the artist claimed, “There were too many other events in my life, too many other commitments to finish before I could turn to art...I had to taste and digest all that living before I could begin with the artist in me” (ibid.). The following year, Caland enrolled at the American University of Beirut to study fine art, and in 1970 she made a pivotal departure from Lebanon to Paris. Despite leaving her family behind, Caland’s migration marked an irrefutable flourishing of her work; it took on a new intensity of colour and daringness that may have otherwise remained dormant, and which was afforded by her new found emancipation. She claimed: “I wanted to have my own identity. In Lebanon, I was the daughter of, wife of, mother of, sister of. It was such a freedom, to wake up all by myself in Paris. I needed to stretch” (the artist quoted in Exh. Cat., Tate St Ives, Cornwall, Huguette Caland, 24 May - 1 September 2019, p. 6).

Caland’s oeuvre can be more or less divided into two periods; the 1960s and ‘70s are preoccupied with anatomy and portraiture, whilst from the 1980s onwards abstraction takes the fore. In her own unique language of abstraction, the present work, created in the years just preceding her move to California in 1987, exemplifies Caland’s essential preoccupation with line and the human body. Her exuberant use of colour and angularity of form invokes a sense of movement and energy that reflects her enthralling, unbridled imagination. Liberated from the confines of societal norms, her works embrace humour and mystery in a fascinating pursuit of the female body.

Caland's appetite for life and adventure is evident in her curious exploration of painting, sculpture, drawing, and textile. Her five-decade-long career attests to her fierce independence as both artist and woman in the twentieth century. Caland occupies a significant space in the international art scene, with a recent solo exhibition at Mennour Paris in 2024, entitled Huguette Caland: Les Années Parisiennes (1970–1987). Caland was also exhibited at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024. In 2025, Caland’s first major European retrospective is set to take place at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, entitled Huguette Caland: A life in a few lines.