Huguette Caland

Huguette Caland was born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1931. She was the daughter of Bechara el-Khoury, the first president of Independent Lebanon. In 1947, she took painting lessons under the private tutelage of the Italian painter Fernando Manetti in Lebanon. She began producing work independently early in her life and formally studied art at the American University of Beirut, where she took classes with Helen el-Khal, from 1964 to 1968. In 1970, she moved to Paris where she remained until 1987. She held several exhibitions in Beirut during the long 1960s, including Salon d’Automne (1967, 1974), Dar el-Fan (1970), Delta International Art Center (1972) and Contact Art Gallery (1973). In 1979, she designed a collection of caftans with the French designer Pierre Cardin. Following the death of her partner, Romanian sculptor George Apostu, she moved to Venice, California and hosted regular gatherings for local artists in her home. She returned to Beirut in 2013 where she remained until her death. Since 2012 her work has been presented in exhibitions worldwide and is now held in institutional collections such as the Bibliothèque Nationale de France-Paris; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris; Tate St. Ives; British Museum, London; LACMA, Los Angeles; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego; Palm Springs Museum of Art, Palm Springs and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.