The daughter of Bechara El Khoury, the first post-independence president of Lebanon, Huguette Caland spent her early life in Lebanon where she attended the American University of Beirut. Moving to Paris in 1970, she spent the next seventeen years immersed in the city’s bohemian culture, most notably working with the celebrated fashion designer, Pierre Cardin with whom she developed a collection of caftans in 1979. In 1983 Caland formed a close relationship with the Romanian sculptor George Apostu, together they created a large number of paintings and sculptures in their studio until his death in 1986. Moving to California, shortly after Apostu’s death, Caland continued her artistic practice, eventually settling in a studio designed by architect, Neil Kaufman near Venice Beach, Los Angeles in 1997. In 2013 Caland returned to her hometown of Beirut where she continued to work until she passed away in 2019.
Known for her use of simple, sinuous lines to explore eroticism and female sexuality, Caland began to receive renewed recognition from the international art world in recent years. Her work featured prominently in the 2012 exhibition, Modernités Plurielles 1905-1970 at the Centre Pompidou and Twenty-three works, including three kaftans displayed on enigmatic mannequins designed by the artist, were shown in the Arsenal’s Dionysian Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale. The artist had her first British solo museum exhibition at Tate St. Ives in 2019.
Huguette Caland’s work is included in private and public collections across the Middle East, Europe and the United States, including British Museum, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; Fondation National d’Art Contemporain, Paris; LACMA, Los Angeles; Armand Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego; Palm Springs Museum of Art, Palm Springs and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.