Huguette CalandBy Aldis Browne

It's a good bet that when we look back at any country's history, the arts have gone a long way toward defining its national identity. Most politicians and statesmen are soon forgotten, wars blur into memory and inventions long outlive even the most renowned inventors. When we consider Italy aren't Dante Alighieri, Antonio Vivaldi and Leonardo da Vinci longest remembered? Who better typifies Scandinavia than Edvard Munch, Henrik Ibesn and Edvard Grieg? England reveres Shakespeare; the Netherlands-van Gogh; France-The Impressionists. Influences of art and culture are indispensible elements of historical perspective.

Though it grew from an ancient culture, Lebanon is a relatively new nation; one founded only after World War I when the Ottoman Empire was formally split by the Treaty of Sèvres in 1920. And perhaps no artist today better reflects Beirut's proud international heritage than Huguette Caland. Caland was born the daughter of Lebanon's first president. Following her education in Beirut, Caland lived for two decades in Paris, and since 1986, has called America her home.

Caland has long enjoyed a distinguished reputation. Since 2007 alone, her work has been exhibited in Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Beirut, New York, Los Angeles and at major auctions in London and Dubai. Her art is as uniquely individual as her themes are universal. The boldly abstracted forms that underlie her canvases open dialogues with intricacy reminiscent of lace-like Arabesque architecture. Her art is often suggestive of the magical, frequently musical, spirit of Paul Klee or the gemlike quality of Gustav Klimt. Her vision challenges rational perspective; suggestions of a distant landscape or cityscape seen from above might be seamlessly juxtaposed with the immediacy of a garden. Not unlike the simultaneity of cubism, her themes are expressed from multiple perspectives on a single canvas. Though imposing scale can contradict intimacy, Caland unerringly creates harmony and lyricism from such diversity.

Only as Lebanon creates and recreates its own legacy will history define whatever enduring contributions to the arts it might make. Will Huguette Caland ultimately take a place as a progenitor of Lebanon's artistic heritage? Only the test of time will answer that question ...... but I wouldn't bet against it.

BIOGRAPHY

1931 - Born in Beirut, Lebanon
1964 - Executed a sculpture portrait of her father and also began the first prototypes of her embroidered and hand-painted gowns.
1964 - 1968 Studied art at the American University of Beirut
1970 - Moved from Beirut to Paris, France
1981 - 1982 Lived and worked in New York
1982 - Returned to Paris, where she began work with Rumanian sculptor George Apostu on a series of stone, wood and terra cotta sculptures.

Began painting at the age of 16 under the private tutelage of Fernando Manetti, an Italian artist then residing in Lebanon.

Moved from Paris to Venice, California, where she presently lives and works.

EXHIBITIONS

2009 - Up coming solo show at LA contemporary, Los Angeles
2009 - Peter Findlay Gallery, New York in May (solo)
2009 - Up coming show from the 2nd to the 22nd of March, Kuwait
2009 - Up coming show at art Dubai from the 17th to the 21st of March
2009 - Up coming collective show at LA contemporary, Los Angeles
2007 - Sotheby's London Auction.
2007 - Christie's Dubai Auction.
2006 - Christie's Dubai Auction.
2006 - Show May at Janine Rubeiz Gallery, Beirut. (solo)
2006 - Show April at Samy kinge Gallery, Paris. (solo)
2005 - Show at Michael's restaurant Gallery, Santa Monica, California. (solo)
2005 - the inauguration of the National Public Library, Beirut, Lebanon
2004 - Gallery st. Germain, Beverly Hills, California
2004 - Pacific Design Center, "Free Style", Los Angeles
2003 - "Introspective", Janine Rubeiz Gallery, Beirut. (solo)
2001 - "Silent letters", Sami Kinge Gallery, Paris. (solo)
2001 - Galerie Janine Rubeiz, "Salon International d'art Contemporain-Artuel", Beirut
2001 - Galerie Janine Rubeiz, "St'Art 2001", Fire D'Art Contemporain de Strasbourg, Beirut
2000 - "L'argent", Janine Rubeiz Gallery, Beirut. (solo)
1999 - "Silent Letters and touchables", Off Main Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica (solo).
1999 - Galerie Janine Rubeiz, " Europ'Art", Foire Internationale d'Art
1999 - Janine Rubeiz Gallery "Europ'Art" Foire Internationale d'Art, Geneve
1998 - "The Scapes & Escapes", Elena Zass Gallery, Laguna Beach. (solo)
1997 - "Faces and Places II", Janine Rubeiz Gallery, Beirut. (solo)
1997 - "Europ'Art 97", Geneve (solo)
1997 - "Faces and Places I", Janine Rubeiz Gallery, Beirut. (solo)
1997 - Galerie Janine Rubeiz, " Special Janvier", Beirut
1997 - Janine Rubeiz Gallery "Europ'Art" Foire internationale d'art, Geneve
1996 - Skirball Cultural Center, Artist's Invitational "Blessings and Beginings", Los Angeles
1996 - UCLA Art Rental and sales Gallery of the Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural center, " The Female Perspetive", Los Angeles
1995 -  Artopia Art Gallery, "Art Preview", Los Angeles
1993 - National Museum of Women In Arts, " Forces Of Changes, Artists of the Arab World", Washington D.C.
1992 - Gallery 5, Santa Monica (solo)
1992 - Toepel Gallery, Kirkland, Washington (solo)
1992 - Bella Interiors Gallery, Santa Monica (solo)
1986 - "Rajz/Drawing ‘86" Pesci Galeria, Pesc, Hungary (solo)
1986 - Organized rmanent Delegation of the Arab States to UNESCO, " The Arab World Today", Rennes, France
1986 - "Le Portrait A Roulettes" (with George Apostu) , Sales, France
1986 - Permanent Delegation of the Arab States to UNESCO, Inaugural Exhibit, " Espace Cultural", Paris
1984 - XXIII Premi International of Dibuix Joan Miro, Joan Miro

ARTWORK BY HUGUETTE CALAND