What You Need to Know: On view through January 25, 2025, Mennour is presenting “Huguette Caland: Les Années Parisiennes (1970–1987),” the Paris-based gallery’s first-ever exhibition dedicated to the artist. Following the announcement of the collaboration between Mennour and the artist’s estate this past summer, the show takes a retrospective approach while focusing on the prodigious years Caland spent in Paris. Comprising almost 50 major works, including two dozen paintings and 19 works on paper (among them collaborations made with French fashion designer Pierre Cardin), the show marks a moment of revival for the artist’s legacy. It also precedes a series of events focused on Caland’s work across the U.S. and Europe, such as a major retrospective opening in February 2025 at the Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid.
Huguette Caland, Madame (1979–80). Courtesy of Mennour, Paris.
About the Artist: Born in 1931, Huguette Caland was the daughter of Bechara Khalil El Khoury, the first president of Lebanon post-independence. A comparative latecomer to practicing art, following the death of her father in 1964, she studied art at the American University in Beirut, after which, in 1970 at the age of 39, she relocated to Paris where she ultimately resided for the next 17 years. Though she had been active in the Lebanese art scene, which had become a cultural center for West Asia, in Paris she was exposed to a breadth of new art forms and styles. Beginning in 1978, she collaborated with Cardin, who was inspired by her preferred kaftans, leading to an haute couture collection in 1979. A painter at heart, her unique form of abstraction was influenced by the human body and landscapes. In 1987, she moved once again, this time to Los Angeles, California, where she continued to live and work until 2013 when she returned to Beirut, where she remained until her passing in 2019.
Huguette Caland, Dress #1 (Nour Collection for Pierre Cardin) (1979). Courtesy of Mennour, Paris.
Why We Like It: Painter, designer, engraver, and sculptor, Caland was a true multihyphenate, resulting in a body of work that offers a new perspective on the development of abstraction in the 20th century. Leveraging organic lines and effervescent color palettes, Caland’s work conveys a sense of sensual eroticism as well as total pictorial freedom. And, as the press release for the present exhibition notes, Caland herself even remarked in 1973, “Eroticism is an abstract thing. It is the gaze that creates the mood.” Recalling the work of previous-generation artists like Georgia O’Keeffe as well as elements of West Asian traditions of abstraction, Caland forged her own creative path (much as she did with her life’s path) to develop something wholly her own. Homing in on the years spent in France specifically, the exhibition at Mennour offers an invaluable opportunity to trace and explore her singular practice.
Huguette Caland, Femme des longues patiences (avec Andrée Chédid) (1978-80). Courtesy of Mennour, Paris.
“Huguette Caland: Les années parisiennes (1970–1987)” is on view at Mennour, Paris, through January 25, 2025.
