Untitled

This exceptional pair of two works by Huguette Caland -Untitled, a 1999 work on paper and Untitled (Portrait of Ed Moses) from the late 1980s- originates from the collection of the artist’s former assistant and studio manager. They offer a rare opportunity to acquire significant pieces that exemplify Caland’s artistic vision and provide a window into the evolution of the celebrated Lebanese-born artist whose life and practice spanned decades, continents, and mediums. Caland's oeuvre defied the aesthetic, social, and political conventions of her time, engaging with themes of diaspora, loss, movement, selfhood, and collectivity, while also drawing from her deep-rooted cultural heritage. Her work draws upon her varied interests, including Palestinian tatreez embroidery, the symbolism of Phoenician and Byzantine visual cultures, and the significance of lettered forms, weaving a complex tapestry of influences that reflect her cosmopolitan experience.

These two works, while distinct in their medium and subject matter, also illustrate Caland’s profound engagement with materiality and abstraction, where tactile experimentation with surfaces and textures is central to her artistic process. Her use of abstraction as a means of personal expression was not only a reflection of her artistic evolution but also a way of exploring her inner world, steeped in both personal and collective histories. These works offer a more intimate glimpse into Caland's artistic practice—showing her as an artist who, despite her cosmopolitanism, was deeply invested in exploring notions of belonging, identity, community and the idea of home.

Huguette Caland is currently the subject of her first European retrospective entitled Huguette Caland: A Life in a Few Lines at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte in Madrid. Her works are held in collections of major institutions globally, including Centre Pompidou, Paris; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, and the San Diego Museum of Art.