This Sunday, let’s take a look inside the studio of Huguette Caland. Born in Lebanon, Caland later moved to Los Angeles, where she lived and worked for almost three decades. The artist is best known for abstract-figurative works that often build landscapes out of the female body, and examine beauty, eroticism, and other sometimes-taboo subjects. 

In the above photo, I think I’m most struck by how happy the artist looks. She appears delighted, working diligently on a new piece while finished works hang brightly in the background. I’m impressed by the array of coloured markers that the artist has laid out before her -- a very exciting sight for any illustrator or drawing artist! The piece she’s working on isn’t quite visible from this angle, but I expect it’s quite colourful. 

The studio overall looks quite clean and spacious -- I’m curious about what the object directly in front of Huguette is. Perhaps a sculpture, or a mockup for a larger piece. Either way, it adds interest, and seems in line with her style of using recognizable figures and forms to build strange and suggestive shapes. 

Born in Beirut, Caland is the daughter of a prominent Lebanese politician who became the country’s first post-independence president in the early 1940s. Though she was based in America for much of her artistic career, Caland returned to Beirut in 2013 and has remained there since, still producing artwork at the age of 88.

[image source]