Writings in the Work of Huguette Caland

Dedicated to the role of language in the Lebanon-born, Los Angeles-based artist’s playful, erotic oeuvre, from somatic paintings to cheeky kaftans

The daughter of former Lebanese president Bechara El Khoury, Huguette Caland (1931-2019) studied art in Beirut but spent most of her career in Paris and Los Angeles, living in the latter city from 1987 to 2013. Working across painting, drawing, sculpture and even clothing design (especially her provocative kaftans), Caland developed a joyful and erotic oeuvre ruled by color, line and the unencumbered female form. Including a 28-page insert, this exquisitely stylish hardback explores the deeply personal and often enigmatic role within Caland’s artistic universe. Huguette’s daughter Brigitte thoughtfully navigates the intimate terrains of memory, desire and identity present within her mother’s work, revealing how her handwritten fragments and invented symbols coalesced into a somatic language all her own. From Asia to Europe to North America, this volume follows Huguette Caland’s life lived in radical fluidity, where art is both confession and resistance, text and textile, silence and speech.